Correction of thin lips: a 17-year follow-up of the original technique.

The demand for lip augmentation in the older population and, occasionally, the younger one remains high. During the natural course of the aging process, the progressive loss of soft-tissue bulk and the flattening of the lip contour create an appearance of thin lips and their associated stigmata of old age. In general, methods for lip augmentation fall into two categories: (1) local oral mucosal flaps and (2) autologous grafts, alloplastic implants, or injections.1 Numerous techniques have been described to address the senile lip,2–9 including V-Y plasty, lip-lifting buffalo horn excision, frenulum plasty, fat or dermal-fat grafting, use of polyacrylamide hydrogel, use of polytetrafluoroethylene tube, and silicone microgel injection, among others. In 1984, the lip lift technique10 was published as a procedure for correcting thin lips. Since its original publication, several modifications have been introduced. Outlined below are the revised evaluation of the lip complex and the modifications to the original lip lift technique, as experienced by the authors over a 17-year period.