Plump, youthful and perfectly in proportion, the London Lip is how all lip augmentations would look if they were done by a principled practitioner with the relevant skillset and a sane understanding of aesthetics.
This is the story of how we got it so right…
The Dream vs The Reality
When I first treated lips, back in 2007 or 2008, I only ever advocated the natural look and doing things better. Clearly, that meant injecting both the top and the bottom lip, and I refused to be swayed by any crazy products on the market promising to be the ‘next big thing.’
From the outset, I employed a very refined technique. I would layer the product along the vermilion border because injecting into the body of the lip was very difficult and dangerous with a needle and, at that time, we only had needles.
Meanwhile, I watched different products come into the market, introduced by manufacturers who assumed patients wanted longer lasting products. Unfortunately for some, this didn’t work out well because longer lasting products tend to leave lips firm and solid with a very visible outline. Not a great look or a great feel.
The dream – at the that time – for a beautifully hydrated, naturally nice, plump lip like The London Lip was a little unattainable.
The Big Lip Trend
Then came the distortions, again.
Healthy, youthful-looking lips rarely, if ever, make headlines. That’s understandable. What’s less understandable is why would anyone would want the shape of their lips to be up for public discussion. And yet, it happens.
Some of the problems lie in the method, some in the ineptitude of the practitioner, and some in the product. When you use needles, the product injected into the skin goes in like a string of tiny pearls that are then massaged into place in the hope that the product will spread into one smooth layer. It hardly ever does. And those lumps and bumps will be tangible and, in some cases, visible.
Then, in a repeat of the horror show of 20 years ago, we found ourselves in big lip territory again.
The lunacy of getting bigger and bigger lips in younger and younger patients is virtually a blueprint of what happened two decades ago and, like it did then, the trend will eventually lose its appeal because that’s the way of fashion – once everyone has it, no one wants it.
This is the danger of following fads. As much as you might think you’re a trendsetter today, you won’t be in five years’ time.
Being fad-proof at The Prager Clinic, we deal with aesthetics not body modification and we try to achieve symmetry while treating our patients medically.
From Smoker’s Lines to Smoking Hot
Today, I have no need to trial something new on the market – a product that basically promises to be the next best thing and six or nine months down the line I have a disaster on my hands. No, I’m using quality products that have been around for a good 10 or 15 years, in varying degrees of viscosity. But the real breakthrough in creating beautifully natural lips is the use of the cannula.
Cannulas have improved so much in recent years and – with experience and an aesthetic background – it means that I can surpass anything we’ve done in the last 20 years.
With needles you could never inject into the body of the lip safely. Now, I no longer have to adhere to the outline; I can actually inject into the lip body. And, more importantly, I can do those fine, fine lines above the lip.
In the past, these lines were a huge challenge with a needle. In fact, it was virtually impossible because you could never use the smallest amount of product needed. So, people had these barcodes above the lips and, when you filled them, they were still barcodes, but filler barcodes instead of crevice barcodes.
The London Lip
For me, the ideal lip shape is the London Lip because, aesthetically, it’s right on the money.
When it comes to lip augmentation, a very simple truth is often overlooked and that is that loss of collagen not affects the lips, but also the surrounding area of the mouth and face. Everywhere loses collagen as we age.
In the past, people injected lips because they thought only the lips got smaller. This was a mistake because the rest of the face also gets smaller so if you resize or restore lips on an untreated face, then you end up with a lip that is too big. This is where you will find your trout pouts and duck faces.
Now, if I treat the perioral area as a whole – that includes the lip, skin, chin etc – then I’m obviously restoring the whole area, not just the lip, and that way it looks proportionate and makes complete aesthetic sense.
As well as collagen loss, people usually have all manner of scarring on their face as they grow older – perhaps from chickenpox, acne, or an accident – and this pitted skin contributes to lips looking old. That’s why treating scars is both a medical procedure and an anti-ageing treatment.
The London Lip is also dependent on quality product. Over the years, we have seen an evolution in products and methods, but for me, hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers, done well and used correctly, offer the best possibility to restore and stimulate the patient’s natural collagen. Hyaluronic acid ticks all the boxes, in my opinion and experience.
Couple all that with the rise of the cannula, and you have everything you need to make a perfectly balanced and naturally plump looking lip.
While there will always be a certain amount of risk involved in any procedure, with a good cannula, a good procedure, a good product, and a very good doctor, you can minimise the risk to a point where it makes a lot of sense to undergo this procedure.
Sadly, industry excesses deter a lot of people who would benefit from this procedure, a procedure that I believe is now better than it ever was.
To find out more about the London Lip or to book an appointment, call us today.