Lip Implants From The Neck Muscle Gain Popularity

By Margarita Nahapetyan

US cosmetic surgeons have discovered a new procedure for augmenting the lips using grafts of muscle and connective tissue from the neck. They say that this procedure can be even more effective than fat, collagen, Gore-Tex, hyaluronic acid and many other types of lip implants.

Lips are made of a very think skin with only 3 to 5 cellular layers and, therefore contain fewer melanocytes which are primarily responsible for providing skin with its color. Due to this fact, the blood vessels appear through the skin of the lips giving them the light pink or rosy color. With growing age, lip fullness gradually decreases as the groove of the upper lip becomes more flat and the amount of pink tissue is being decreased as well.

Such changes have led a growing number of women all across the globe to opt for procedures, known as lip augmentation. According to the plastic surgeons, the tissue that is being used in the implants can be quite easily removed during a face-lift surgery, with very few complications and leaving no deformities in the contour of the neck. Patients will not experience problems when moving their head, will feel no neck pain, or suffer nerve injuries. And most importantly, the results last at least two years, said Dr. Anurag Agarwal, MD, plastic surgeon at the Aesthetic Surgery Center in Naples, Fla.

Dr. Agarwal and his colleagues have reported that they achieved good results in 25 patients who underwent the procedures of lip augmentation by using parts of the women's own muscles from one side of their necks, as well as the connective tissue, known as fascia, that lies over it. All women were followed for at least one year so the experts were able to check for any changes.

After an average period of 2 years, it was revealed that the amount of visible pink tissue raised between 20 per cent and 24 per cent for the upper and lower lips, and the average projection of the upper and lower lips increased by 0.9 to 0.99 millimeters as well. Women in general were satisfied with the results of the procedure, the surgeons say. However, one lady expressed a wish for an additional augmentation involving the administration of an injectable gel.

The researchers say that the new surgery is simple and the recovery quite straightforward. Once the swelling has subsided few weeks later, the lips should have the desired fullness. According to Dr. Agarwal, all his patients have been excited to have the natural feel and appearance of their lips, without the need for an artificial filler or implant. However, he stressed out that no single procedure is perfect or can reverse all signs of aging.

So the question is why so many women opt for pouty lips? Evolutionary psychologists assume that chubby and full lips are a sign of fertility and youth, and therefore men are programmed to like them. For those who consider themselves a hard-living type approaching middle age, the comfort could be in the fact that scientists concluded in a study: the rate at which our lips lose their fullness and color appears to be influenced mostly by genes, and not by virtuous living.

The findings have been reported in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.