What to Know About Lip Fillers and How to Choose the Best One For You

Just like each individual is unique, each lip filler is too. Learning all about lip fillers and the formulas offered for different purposes is important in choosing the right one to suit your aesthetic goals. Lip fillers are a type of dermal filler — a gel-like substance that is injected beneath the skin to restore lost volume, soften creases, and smoothen out lines. Each formula has a unique texture, density, and is injected at varying depths depending on the area. The most commonly used fillers contain hyaluronic acid.

When choosing a lip filler, it’s important to consider your natural lip shape and size, as well as your overall facial features and how you want your lips to look in relation to them. After you’ve decided on the general look you want, you’ll want to learn lip anatomy terms so you can fully describe what you want during your consultation. The filler is injected into the lip and patients can choose how much filler to inject by how many syringes they opt for. It is recommended to not start with too much, otherwise, the filler will have to be dissolved. Gradual plumping is much preferred as you can maintain a natural appearance and not go overboard.

There are both temporary and permanent lip fillers that range in softness, thickness, stiffness, and all work differently.

“I’m looking for a lifting effect.”

If you’re looking for a lifting effect, you’ll want to consider Radiesse or Juvederm Voluma. These revolumizing fillers serve to add volume and give the lips a little lift.

“I’m looking for more volume.”

For volume, revolumizing fillers work best, of course, but you’ll also want to choose a thicker filler. Volume is probably the most common goal for those who want to get lip fillers — people often do a combination of different fillers to achieve their goals. Juvederm Volbella and Restylane are the most popular two fillers for this purpose.

“I’m looking to change the shape of my lips.”

In changing the shape of the lips, it’s important to stick to a hyaluronic acid filler. One of these includes Restylane Silk, a stiffer formula that is good for changing the lip shape and altering the vermillion border for size.

“I’m looking to naturally stimulate collagen.”

Sculptura is a super versatile filler and is unique in that it is a biostimulator. It differs from traditional filler as it has the ability to grow collagen and thicken the epidermis. The results include natural-looking lips and long-lasting results, but the downside is that it may need weeks or months for the product to stimulate the collagen in injected areas.

“I’m looking to erase lines and wrinkles.”

If you’re not looking to change the size, shape, or volume of your lips and are instead looking to smoothen out lines and wrinkles, Belotero and classic Juvederm are the best options. Juvederm Vollure is good for the body of the lips as it is soft and made of short and long chains of hyaluronic acid. Classic Juvederm is good to fill in small cracks along the edges of the lips. Belotero is the softest and thinnest of the fillers, which makes it easy to inject it superficially into the lips to fill the tissue underneath, however, the results won’t last as long as other fillers.

Ultimately what will help you choose the right filler to meet your needs is a consultation at a clinic or medispa with a professional provider. A consultation will involve discussing your aesthetic goals, budget, how many syringes would be appropriate, and your options in terms of fillers, and your expectations. At Visage, we don’t offer Juvederm or Radiesse as we prefer other fillers to meet your beauty needs.