Thin since your teens, upper lip especially
Genetically thin lips
Never had much volume. Responds beautifully, built with care for proportion so the result suits your face and looks naturally yours.
Thin Lips
You notice it putting on lipstick, or in a close-up photo: the upper lip has less shape than it used to, or never had much. Whether you were born with a fine lip or watched yours flatten from your thirties, the Wimpole Street team builds a lip that suits your face.
At a glance
- Causes Genetic, or age-related volume loss
- Treated at Wimpole Street, London
- Results Immediate, settled at 2 weeks
- Lasts 6 to 12 months
Price from
From £180
What it is and why it happens
Two different patients ask for this.
People who have always had a thin upper lip, often with a long distance between nose and lip, and who have thought about doing something for years.
And people whose lips were fine and have flattened. From the thirties the lip loses volume, the border softens, the upper lip lengthens and rolls inward, and the shape in old photographs stops matching the mirror.
The treatment overlaps and the conversation differs. Restoring a lip you used to have is straightforward. Building a lip you never had is an art of proportion, because every face suits a different lip, and gradual steps keep the result looking like you.
Regents Park Aesthetics treats lips at our Wimpole Street clinic, by prescribing clinicians, with a dissolving agent on site. Where a lip already holds plenty of filler, your clinician may suggest letting it settle first, so the next step is the right one.
Know your type
Which type is yours?
Lips were fuller a decade ago
Age-related flattening
Volume loss with a softening border and a lengthening upper lip. Restoring what was there is the most reliably satisfying version of this treatment.
Lipstick bleeds, border is soft
Lost definition, adequate volume
Where there is enough body but the outline has gone. A small amount along the border sharpens it without adding fullness, and Skinvive or skin boosters help the surrounding skin.
Large gap between nose and lip
Long upper lip
Length rather than volume, so the answer is different from filler. A lip flip rolls the lip outward to show more of what you have, and surgical lip lift is the definitive answer.
How we assess and treat
We look at your lips at rest and smiling, and at the whole lower face, because every chin and jaw suits a slightly different lip.
We ask for photographs of results you love and results you would rather avoid. The second is surprisingly useful.
We measure the distance between nose and lip, because a long upper lip is a question of length, and a lip flip or lip lift answers it better than filler.
And we pace it. A patient who already has substantial filler is asked to let it settle first, and sometimes to consider dissolving and starting fresh. It is why our lip patients simply look like themselves, with lovely lips.
Your options
Which treatment for your type of lip?
As a guide, this is how we typically match each type to a treatment. Your own plan is always confirmed at consultation, and where a specialist doctor would serve you best, your clinician points you to the right one.
Type
Recommended treatment
Why
Lost definition, adequate volume
A small amount at the border, because the volume is already there
Long upper lip
A lip flip shows more of the lip you have without adding volume
Treatments that address it
| Lip Filler Hyaluronic acid placed to restore volume and definition, worked in increments with you sat up to check. Fully reversible. From £280 for 0.5ml, which is enough for most first-time p | Lip Flip A small amount at the upper lip border rolls the lip slightly outward, showing more of what you already have. No volume added, lasts around three months, £180. Suits people wanting | Skinvive Microdroplet hydration for the skin around the mouth rather than the lip itself. Useful where the surrounding skin has thinned and lines are forming. £350. | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| £280 | £180 | £350 | |
| Explore Lip Filler | Explore Lip Flip | Explore Skinvive |
Lip Filler
Hyaluronic acid placed to restore volume and definition, worked in increments with you sat up to check. Fully reversible. From £280 for 0.5ml, which is enough for most first-time p
- £280
Lip Flip
A small amount at the upper lip border rolls the lip slightly outward, showing more of what you already have. No volume added, lasts around three months, £180. Suits people wanting
- £180
Skinvive
Microdroplet hydration for the skin around the mouth rather than the lip itself. Useful where the surrounding skin has thinned and lines are forming. £350.
- £350
Decision aid
Compared side by side
Lip filler
Lip flip
Skinvive
Surgical lip lift
Adds volume
Yes
No
No
No
Shows more lip
Yes
Yes, slightly
No
Yes
Lasts
6 to 12 months
3 months
6 months
Permanent
Reversible
Yes
Wears off
Wears off
No
Price from
£280
£180
£350
Varies
Before and after
Lip volume
After filler
A conservative lip treatment keeping the natural border. Clinical image supplied by Allergan Aesthetics. Individual results may vary.
Mature lips
After filler
Volume and definition restored in lips that had thinned with age. Clinical image supplied by Allergan Aesthetics. Individual results may vary.
Can you treat it at home?
Volume comes from the clinic. Lip plumpers work by irritating the lip with cinnamon, menthol or capsaicin, which causes brief swelling lasting an hour or two. That is inflammation rather than volume, and repeated use dries and irritates the lip.
Exfoliating and moisturising improves texture and how lipstick sits, which is well worth doing.
Sunscreen on the lips matters and is universally forgotten. Ultraviolet damage thins the lip and creates the vertical lines around it.
Staying smoke-free makes a large difference, both to lip volume and to the pursing lines around the mouth.
Makeup technique genuinely works. Overlining slightly, and lighter colour in the centre, creates the appearance of more lip without anything injected.
Questions, answered
Frequently Asked Questions
£280 for 0.5ml and £350 for 1ml. Most first-time patients need 0.5ml to 1ml.
Yes, at sensible volume and placed correctly. Obvious lips come from too much product, wrong placement, or repeat treatment without letting the previous round settle, which is why every step here is gradual.
Six to twelve months. Lips move constantly, which breaks the gel down faster than anywhere else.
A small amount of anti-wrinkle product at the upper lip border, rolling the lip slightly outward to show more of what you have. No volume, lasts around three months, £180.
A long upper lip is a question of length rather than volume. A lip flip helps slightly and a surgical lip lift is the definitive answer.
Yes, completely, within days. We use hyaluronic acid only and keep a dissolving agent on site.
They irritate the lip to cause brief swelling lasting an hour or two. That is inflammation rather than volume, and repeated use dries and irritates.
Often, after a careful look at what is already there. If you have had repeated treatment your clinician may suggest letting it settle, and occasionally dissolving and starting fresh, so the result stays soft and natural.
Topical anaesthetic for twenty minutes and the product contains a local anaesthetic. Most patients describe pressure rather than pain.
It peaks at twenty four to forty eight hours and can look quite full at first. The lip settles by two weeks, so book at least three weeks before an event.
Regents Park Aesthetics
Feel like yourself, on a good day.
A medically led clinic where every plan starts with an assessment and every injectable is placed by a medical professional, so the result looks like you on your best day.
Address19 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8GE
Telephone020 7580 4813
