Written by Dr Julian De Silva
Large lips can be a consequence of ethnicity, a surgically overinflated lip or an unbalanced lip that does not match a person’s face. People who are endowed with an excessively generous lip size can benefit from a lip reduction (cheiloplasty) procedure.
The lips are the most prominent feature on the lower third of the face and are important in conveying emotion and attractiveness.
In a normal lip profile, the lips should be slightly parted, and the lower lip should lie only just behind the upper lip. With excessive protrusion, the lower lip looks disproportionally large.
The upper lip ideally covers two-thirds of the incisors, there are variations based on ethnicity and gender.
From the side profile, the nose, chin, and lips are in aesthetic proportion. In a face with a normal nose-chin-lip proportion, with a vertical line drawn through the upper lip, the lower lip passes several millimetres behind this line and the chin lies further behind the lower lip.
In men. the chin is a characteristic feature of sexual dimorphism and a relatively strong chin is an attractive feature.
There is a degree of art in the technique to reduce an oversized lip, as the size, shape and contour require both technical and artistic surgery to give a natural-looking result. With lip reduction surgery, the incision is placed inside the mouth and is invisible after surgery.
The procedure can be performed under local anaesthesia with or without sedation. It takes approximately 60 minutes to complete and about 2 weeks to heal. After surgery, the lips initially appear larger because of swelling but this soon resolves after a few weeks.
The risks of lip surgery include a period of healing when the lips are enlarged due to swelling. Typically, this is only for a few weeks and medications can be used to speed up resolution of the swelling.
Dr De Silva performs lip reduction and revision of lip reductions surgery with his expertise and artistic flair so the lips remain in balance with each patient’s other facial characteristics.
*Results May Vary
The most common reason patients request cheiloplasty is because they are born with naturally large or asymmetrical lips. This may have been a source of teasing and unhappiness for many years.
The second common indication is over-inflated lips from excessive lip augmentation with permanent fillers.
The techniques Dr De Silva uses hides the scars on the inner aspect of the lip and are invisible after cheiloplasty surgery.
With lip reduction, the surgery is tailored to the specific needs of each patient. All of us have a degree of asymmetry in the lips but this can be improved, within reason.
The lips are swollen for several days during, which time soft foods are recommended.
Most of the swelling settles down over the first few days to a week. Generally, 2-5 days off work is recommended.
To give the lips time for healing we recommend to our patient’s not to kiss until 2 weeks after surgery.
Lip reduction can be completed under local anaesthesia, with or without sedation.
Local anaesthesia is usually preferred as patients have a rapid recovery after it and can go home sooner.
Lip reduction may be performed on the upper, lower or both lips, but it not a one-size-fits-all procedure. There are some considerations with lip surgery:
Renowned expert in Facial Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery. Signature techniques in Blepharoplasty, Rhinoplasty and Facelift surgery. Expert in revision surgery and in natural looking results
