| LIP ENHANCEMENTS | arTicle
teeth, that is, the posterior teeth–bone support. Normally the red lip lies in front of the level of incisors and canines. We can therefore understand why the ‘prognathy’, who have strong posterior teeth–bone support, have lips that appear fleshy, projected and everted, even if they are thin. We can understand also that if the white lip is very
long, the red lip can pass over the level of the teeth and so lose its classical posterior dental support; hence, the red lip appears thinner, less projected and less everted.
Lip ageing Lips age in two ways: ‘chronodermy’, that is, through natural ageing, and ‘heliodermy’, that is, ageing caused by sun damage and other external factors. Chronodermy concerns all of the layers: bone, muscle,
fat and skin with loss of volume [1-4] of all these components. The orbicularis muscle is a ring which flattens with
ageing and atrophies making the lip thinner and less shapely. At the same time, it loses its tonicity and spreads like the orbicularis oculi [1], which explains why the white lip becomes longer. Bone atrophy lessens the posterior teeth–bone support,
which explains why the lip is less supported. It loses its convex shape, its obliquity, becoming more vertical and receded.
This lengthening of the upper lip
causes the red lip to pass over the level of the posterior teeth–bone support, itself having lost volume and atrophied. Together, this gives the appearance of the red lip being thinner, less projected and less everted. Heliodermy affects the skin
it is evident that any
aesthetic treatment requires a perfect understanding of anatomy, physiology and the ageing process.
surface of the white lip with elastosis being the source of wrinkles. This ‘bar code’ appearance is found predominantly on the upper lip, which is more exposed to the sun due to its convexity and its top position. Some of these lines (often four for the upper lip) are
deeper with an aspect of deep radiating fixed wrinkles. They often begin at the vermilion border and sometimes penetrate into the red lip, allowing lipstick to bleed inside. The flattening, due to ageing, of the vermilion border between the red and white lip also facilitates ‘lipstick bleeding’. Men have no or few wrinkles. In effect, the density of
hair follicles and sebaceous glands in association with a thick skin, gives the white lip more rigidity, with less creasing and as a consequence less wrinkles.
prime-journal.com | March 2011 ❚
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