Shortening the Distance, Not Adding Volume
A small surgical procedure that changes lip proportion permanently, where filler only ever adds more product.
A Proportion Problem, Solved Structurally
A lip lift removes a small, precisely measured strip of skin beneath the nose, which shortens the distance between the base of the nose and the lip border. That shortening rolls the upper lip slightly outward, showing more of the pink and, at rest, a little more of the upper teeth.
This exists because filler cannot solve it. When the upper lip is long, adding volume produces a fuller lip on a face where the proportion is still wrong, and repeated attempts to correct proportion with product are exactly how people end up looking overfilled.
The trade is a scar. It sits in the shadow beneath the nose and, placed and closed well, becomes very difficult to see. But it is permanent, and anyone considering this should decide with that clearly in mind rather than discover it afterwards.
A Good Fit If Any of This Sounds Familiar
If your issue is volume rather than proportion, filler is the better answer and we will say so.
Three Steps, Start to Finish
We Measure
Proportion is measured rather than estimated. How much to remove is decided by anatomy, not by preference on the day.
Surgery Under Local Anesthetic
About an hour. The incision follows the natural contour at the base of the nose.
Sutures Out and Scar Care
Removed within about a week, then a scar care plan you follow properly for several months.
Filler Cannot Fix a Proportion Problem
Adding volume to a long lip gives you a fuller long lip. That is why so many attempts at this end up looking overfilled.
A Fortnight to Presentable, a Year to Invisible
Millimetres and Scar Behavior
The subnasal lip lift removes skin in a shape that follows the base of the nose and the nostril sills. The amount removed is measured in millimetres, and small differences produce visible differences in outcome, which is why this is measured rather than judged by eye.
Shortening the cutaneous upper lip causes the vermilion to evert slightly, increasing visible pink lip and tooth show at rest without adding any volume. The lip is not made bigger. It is repositioned.
Scar quality is the main variable patients care about, and it depends on tension at closure, placement in the natural contour, individual healing and sun exposure during maturation. Risks include a visible or widened scar, asymmetry, over shortening and altered nostril shape. Over shortening is difficult to reverse, which is the argument for measuring conservatively.
What People Ask Us First
Placed in the natural contour beneath the nose and closed without tension, it usually becomes very difficult to see. It is permanent, and you should decide with that in mind.
It solves a different problem. Lip lift changes proportion, filler adds volume. Some people benefit from one, some from the other, and some from both in sequence.
A few millimetres, which sounds small and reads as a significant change in balance. We measure and show you what is being proposed.
No. Skin has been removed. That is why we measure carefully and take a conservative amount.
Yes, under local anesthetic, and most people find it much more straightforward than they expected.
Often Considered Alongside This
Get It Measured Before You Get More Filler.
If the problem is proportion, more product will not fix it, and the measurement takes five minutes.
4211 N. Buffalo Road, Suite 15, Orchard Park, NY 14127
