Q:

I have thin lips and have had them injected with filler several times. The last time, I asked for very full, pouty lips. Well, I regret that, because my lips don’t look at all how I envisioned them. I look more like Marge Simpson than Angelina Jolie! My family and friends agree that it looks strange. What happened, and what can I do about it?

A:

We are totally in favor of beautiful lips. However, when it comes to lips, bigger is not always better. The ideal lip is unique for each face, and depends on your face shape, size, and width as well as surrounding features such as the chin and nose. When augmenting lips, we take care to respect the lip’s natural architecture and boundaries. For instance, if too much filler is placed in the upper lip, it will exceed the capacity of the lip and migrate into the skin above, resulting in an odd- looking shelf. This can also restrict lip movement, making it difficult to smile. As a result of the “bigger is better” lip trend of recent years, many patients like you have found themselves with unnatural- looking results. Fortunately, hyaluronic acid fillers can be dissolved in a relatively simple procedure which we have performed for many patients.