Thinning Lips? Here’s What You Can Do!
- Posted on: Apr 30 2022
You spend enough time looking in the mirror to notice subtle changes in your appearance. You might notice a little spot here and there. You might see when those worry lines or frown lines start to etch themselves in your forehead. At some point, you may also notice that your lips don’t look as full or shapely as they once did. These changes are all normal and they all happen so slowly that we don’t tend to think much of them. Their prominence may seem to worsen overnight. If you’re in the position of seeing thin, deflated lips when you look in the mirror, take selfies, or attend Zoom meetings, you may be looking for some type of solution. We’ll talk about that here. But first, let’s look at why the lips can get thinner with age.
Our lips are part of the skin on the face. Beneath them is a layer of fatty tissue that is more pronounced than other areas, like the chin or the nose. The cheeks also have fat pads that help contour the face. With age, all of the fatty tissue on the face decreases. This decrease has been measured at about 12 percent over a decade. So from your thirties to your forties, the change can be significant. Of course, it’s not like we lose 12% of the fat in our lips, but we still lose enough to notice. Is aging the only problem that makes the lips get thinner over time? No. We also have some DNA at play. If your family naturally has thinner lips as a whole, you probably do too, or will have more thinning as you age. Beyond genetics and age, there are a couple of other reasons for lip thinning. Fortunately, these are within your control.
If you are savvy about the aging process and how the sun affects the collagen in your skin, we trust that you’re applying sunscreen every day. But are you wearing a lip balm with SPF? Are you reapplying throughout the day, and are you wearing a wide-brimmed hat when you spend more than a few minutes in the sun? These are habits to develop quickly to protect the lips from sun damage, collagen degradation, and also the risk of skin cancer. While you don’t need to wear SPF lip balm at night, you might nourish your lips a little extra by applying a nighttime lip serum before going to bed.
Lip thinning may also occur more quickly in a person who smokes. Most smokers are aware that their habit is linked to the formation of fine lines around the mouth. It also contributes to wrinkles on the body of the lips and to thinning. Smoking can do this because the chemicals in cigarettes deplete the skin of moisture, oxygen, and nutrients while also breaking down collagen. Smoking sets the stage for tissue degradation and also deprives the body of the very building blocks it would use to repair tissue. This is why smoking is one of the most significant factors in premature aging.
Can Thinning Lips be Corrected?
If you have been on social media in the last few years or have watched any bit of reality television, you may be well aware that there’s been a roaring love affair with dermal fillers for the past several years. Lip enhancement is one of the leading nonsurgical treatments among adults of all ages. It is safe and it is effective. Dermal filler lip enhancement provides immediate results with minimal discomfort and zero downtime. The techniques used by a skilled provider can add volume to naturally thin lips or correct deflation that has occurred over time due to aging and other factors.
We love performing lip enhancement using proven dermal fillers. To learn more, contact our San Antonio office at 210-227-FACE and schedule a visit.
Posted in: Lip Enhancement
