understanding aging lips – ThE DeNTal AeStHetic Clinic

Do you notice anything about your smile?

Does your teeth shows when you smile?

Is your lips getting thinner?

Come on! Look at the mirror and examine your lips, was it the same when you were in your early twenties?

NOPE!

Well, When I was a teenager ,way back.. 🙂 hahaha make a calculation and you will know what year..I used to think my lips were big and thick! I am conscious about my teeth as well, it’s protruded and big. I did Orthodontic treatment, extracted four teeth to minimize protrusion of my lips and now that I am fifty and beyond, I find my lips thinner and my teeth doesn’t show as much as it was !

Yep, as we grow older, our upper lips become thinner and lower lips increases a bit in thickness. The main reason why lips become thinner and loses its natural volume is because of collagen depletion.

Throughout aging, the face becomes flatter and the nose gains more prominence, resulting in a longer upper lip which explains why, sometimes in older women, upper front teeth cannot be seen during smiling.

Try to look at the mirror again and say the word “emma” without closing your lips, just in a relax position, can you see your two front teeth? Young people have at least 2mm of it showing but for adult, sometimes, the two front teeth can not be seen at all. Well, it’s not only the problem of upper lips getting longer ,it is also the wear and tear of the teeth. Sometimes, the teeth itself got shorter because of attrition.

What treatment options do we have?

some women, choose to plump their upper lips, but at times they also over do it, resulting to a pronounced pout lips which at times too artificial (my opinion). Restylane is an example of filler used to increase volume and define the vermillion border of the lips.
lip implants – I would not even consider this treatment
fat injections – another treatment I will not consider

Well, for me, I would rather enhanced the shape of my teeth like doing veneer or laminates or bleaching and a good technique in lipstick application.

at age 59, i use different shades of lipstick and lip pencil

Lipstick application for older women:

TIPS:

apply moisturizer or in my case I use vaseline every night to prevent chapping and maintain the natural color of my lips
embrace pink shade of lipstick, though my mom at age 91, she still use red lipstick. I think pink for lighter skin and red for darker skin. I also think it should be at least two degrees darker than natural color of your lips.
line your lips with pencil and accentuate the cuspid’s bow with a darker color
finish with light gloss to have more youthful look 🙂