Barcode lines, smokers lines, vertical lip lines, perioral lines, call them what you want, they have to go! These lines are a result of tissue and bone loss from aging combined with excessive muscle movement around the mouth. The puckering motion that comes with smoking can worsen them but most people, particularly women; will eventually have these lines in different degrees of depth even if they have never smoked.
What can be done?
If you still see them when your face is at rest, then in order to smooth them, they will need to be treated with several modalities.
Lasers
Thickening and smoothing the skin around the mouth to help smoker’s lines is one of the best ways to create long-lasting results. Although you will see the results more gradually, over time, you will be making changes that last for years. Fractional-type devices such as INFINI Microneedling RF and Halo are what we prefer for our clients as the social downtime is under a week with no risk of infection as there is with more ablative lasers.
(Results cannot be guaranteed and vary with each patient)
The goal is to create tiny wounds in the skin to encourage collagen remodelling which will also have a skin tightening effect. Making the skin around the mouth as healthy as possible will enhance and support the other treatments that will be needed for deeper wrinkles.
Deep Lines
If you are looking for a quick fix that is injectable, soft dermal filler and a neuromodulator will take about 40 minutes of treatment time and 3-7 days to take effect. Wrinkles are injected with a soft dermal filler in small amounts placed beneath each wrinkle to lift it, smooth it and create support through the area.
Neuromodulators are injected in a very low dose; ½ – 1 unit in targeted spots, will help relax those muscles just enough to stop them pulling into a full contraction. You may have trouble whistling or sucking on a straw but it is very effective for softening the lines and enhancing the filler results.
Don’t forget your lips
Chances are if you have volume loss around your lips, you also have lost it in your lip border and in the body of your lips. I strongly recommend you re-define your lip border with filler as well. In fact, if your lines are not severe, rejuvenating your lip border may be all that is needed for a while.
Don’t be afraid to add even the smallest amount of filler to the body of your lips, it will help your perioral lines and soften some of the crinkling that you are trying to fix with lip balm.
Introfill
An excellent new way to get much needed hyaluronic acid filler into this area and create collagen-stimulating wounds is with a delivery system called Introfill. The tip of the handpiece Introfillhouses 9 tiny needles that inject at once at the perfect depth, which enables us to deliver an exact amount of solution evenly and safely. It’s generally used for HA (Hyaluronic Acid), PRP or Puraplas, vitamins or Neuromodulators.
How often do you need to do these treatments?
Neuromodulators need a re-treatment every 3-4 months and dermal filler every 9-12 months and a series of laser treatments every few years will keep you looking fantastic and will maintain your results.
