Nicole Kidman’s Lips: The Non-Disappearing Lip

Celebrities all are subject to bad plastic surgery like the rest of us. They just so happen to have their mugs plastered across magazines and television appearances, making their mistakes ever so more glaring. Nicole Kidman’s lips are no exception to this problem.

Nicole Kidman's Fake Lips

The overly enlarged upper lip and the shapelessness of it resembling a bloated sausage are definitely hallmarks of bad lip enhancement work.  However, these unaesthetic attributes that are present when the lip is in repose are also present when the lip is fully smiling.  Normal lips tend to flatten out and at times almost disappear when one smiles.  However, her lips remain round when smiling which is a dead giveaway product was overfilled in the upper lip.  I have had numerous patients come asking for fillers because their upper lip disappears when they smile.  I use Nicole Kidman’s lips as an example that in fact one’s lips should almost disappear when smiling otherwise this can be a sign of unnaturalness.

Samuel M. Lam, MD, FACS is a board certified plastic surgeon in Dallas, Texas. To learn more about Dr Lam’s lip surgery procedures please call (972) 312-8188 to schedule a consultation. If you would like to ask Dr Lam a question about lip surgery please visit our lip surgery forum.

Jody, Dr. Lam’s patient, gives her testimonial 1 year after her upper and lower lip reduction procedure and talks about how it has changed her life.

key words: lip reduction, lip correction, silicone lips correction, bad lips, deformed lips, lisa rinne

Lips and Teeth:  Relationships that are Important When Planning for Lip Augmentation

The number one concern that most women have when they visit a plastic surgeon when it comes to lip size is “Please make my upper lip bigger, but I don’t want it to look unnatural.”  In an accompanying article we explored the relative balance and size of the upper and lower lips that help define what is natural to avoid the risk of overfilling.  These principles will be briefly summarized herein before exploring related principles of how lips look in dynamic and repose states as well as how the lips interact with the teeth to generate a natural-appearing result.  In summary on the subject of lip augmentation discussed before in a separate article, the upper lip should almost always be slightly to significantly smaller in vertical height and in anterior projection/protrusion relative to the lower lip.  When this principle is violated the lip result can look devastatingly unnatural.  Accordingly, when a woman comes to the office wanting “just a little bit in my upper lip” she does not understand the risk involved without balancing it to the bottom lip.  In addition, the bottom lip can truly be a hallmark of a beautiful, youthful, pouty look and is far underrated in this potential.

Beyond these principles, lips have a relative proportion to the teeth that must be honored.  With aging the upper lip hangs down over the upper teeth through a process of lengthening.  Therefore, an individual can look even older when the upper lip is augmented because the upper lip now obscures the upper teeth even more after it has been inflated.  Further a full upper lip could simply look unnatural in an older individual no matter how much she undergoes related facial rejuvenation.  I truly believe a very, very full upper lip only looks natural in someone in her early 20s.  Even beyond this period of time, a very full upper lip contour can be a glaringly obvious sign of bad plastic surgery.

Interestingly, the opposite is the case with the bottom lip.  As one ages, the lower lip loses lip competence, or muscle strength, and starts to hang outward showing more bottom teeth.  Therefore, showing bottom teeth can be a sign of aging that is an unpleasant attribute of aging.  Think of an older politician photographed with his mouth open only showing his gnarly bottom teeth and with his upper teeth completely hooded by his hanging upper lip.  Therefore, lower lip augmentation can help not only make someone look youthful at almost any age and still look natural but also benefit the individual by obscuring the lower teeth visibility.

As part of any evaluation for lip enhancement, the physician must consider a patient’s age so that the lips fit that person’s age bracket.  For permanent lip enhancement with silicone treatments it is much preferred to treat someone over 35 years of age and always to err on the side of conservatism to ensure long-term safety and how that lip will age for that person.  Using artistic judgment and knowledge of the above principles can help a physician guide a patient toward a safe and effective long-term result.

Also as part of the initial evaluation, a physician should examine a patient with her mouth open, closed, and smiling.  Lips are dynamic structures that must be respected as such.  They should look natural and better when the lips are open, closed, talking, and smiling.  Too often a physician only judges the lips when they are closed but this can lead to problems when they are in a dynamic state.  The issues of teeth show have already been discussed regarding when the lips are separated and open.  However, what about smiling?  The upper lip becomes a central focus here.  If the person smiles and there is a lot of gummy show, the so-called “gummy smile”, and the lip does not appear to hang too much over the upper teeth when the lips are open then the physician can be slightly more aggressive in treatment of the upper lip to improve this situation.  Finally, I distinctly recall when a patient said to me, “I don’t like it when I smile and my upper lip completely disappears.”  I explained that a normal lip should flatten and either slightly or greatly flatten with smiling.  When it does not, it can be a stigma of a fake lip.  This final consideration to me is something that should not be underappreciated.  Most individuals know a fake lip when they see one but cannot tell why it looks fake.  Hopefully, these principles discussed help to supplement one’s knowledge base as to why a lip can look fake and how to avoid falling into that trap.

Follow the links to learn more about Dr Lam’s lip augmentation, and lip reduction procedures, including before and after photos, videos, lip forums and FAQs, or call (972) 312-8188 to schedule a consultation .

Who is a Candidate for Lip Reduction

Our society has been deluged with desires for lip augmentation or enlargement but who is a good candidate to have his or her lips reduced?  There are two principle groups of people desiring lip reduction.  The first group includes individuals who have had terrible lip augmentation procedures that were permanent and now require fixing.  Examples of permanent products that could be misused to create bad results include silicone injections, Artefill, fat, Aquamid, and a variety of other injectables.  Not all of these injectables should be considered bad, but their outcomes can be bad in the wrong hands.  The second group of individuals who desires lip reduction concerns those who were born with lips they feel are disproportionate to their face.  Typically, this group is composed of certain ethnicities who have been stigmatized with a very full lip, e.g., Africans, Asians, and some Hispanic groups as well.  In addition, many Caucasians also can exhibit lips that are too full for their facial features and desire reduction.  Accordingly, ethnic lip reduction may be considered more simply congenital lip reduction, i.e., for those born that way.  A third category could be considered but is rare:  those individuals who developed too large a lip from trauma or accident such as abnormal scar tissue or other related enlargement of the lip.  The focus of this article will be to discuss the first two categories, namely those who have had an overly done fake lip via permanent injectables and those who were born with a lip that is too full for their facial features.

This woman had silicone injected into her lips in an unnatural way and underwent correction of her lips through a surgical lip reduction of both her upper and lower lips. She is shown afterward with much more natural appearing lips.

For the first category, many times individuals who have had their lives wrecked with a botched plastic surgery procedure feel hopeless that their situation can be corrected.  Fortunately, this is truly not the case if the right surgeon with extensive experience in the art and technique of lip reduction is approached.  The number one question that I receive all the time is “Can you fix me because I had [fill in the blank] injected into my lips?”  The answer is almost always a yes.  I have reduced lips that have contained almost every conceivable product including but not limited to Gore-Tex, silicone, fat, Artecoll, Artefill, Aquamid, Bioplastique, and many others.  The second most common question I get is “Can you remove all the product from my lips?”  The answer to this one is unfortunately no.  Although the lips can be reduced to adequate size so that hopefully to almost everyone looking at you you now look natural the actual product cannot be entirely removed.  In many cases the product becomes so firmly integrated with the tissues that they have become inseparable.  The reduction involves taking down a mixture of product and natural lip until the size of the lip is of a natural size and proportion.

For the second category, i.e., for individuals born with too large a lip, a lip reduction may be the solution to feelings of inadequacy or stigmatization.  One concern that I have received regarding “ethnic lip reduction” is whether this represents a betrayal of one’s ethnicity.  I believe that is a personal decision that I cannot rightly comment on.  However, I can state that when lips are disproportionately large for an individual so that they draw unwanted attention to their presence it may be reasonable to consider aesthetic reduction no matter what race is seeking this correction.  As mentioned above, I have seen an increasing number of white individuals who want this done simply because their lips are not in balance with their face.  Like any facial feature that is out of proportion to the face, e.g., too large a nose, too small a chin, an aesthetic correction may be warranted to achieve overall balance to a face.  In addition, particularly in some African-American patients that I have seen they have an excess of gum that almost folds over in a redundant flap when they smile.  This truly can be considered almost a deformity that would justify correction for those who are interested in doing so.  For whatever reasons that someone is interested in a lip reduction, finding an expert in this field who is technically experienced but artistically minded can help that person achieve his or her desired goals.

Follow the links to learn more about Dr Lam’s lip augmentation, and lip reduction procedures, including before and after photos, videos, forums and FAQs, or call (972) 312-8188 to schedule a consultation .

African-American Lip Reduction Testimonial

This very kind African-American woman who underwent a lip reduction about 7 months ago started to cry and express how much her life has changed since her lip reduction.  She then presented me with the following testimonial regarding her experience and results with us:

“I was born with a very large lower lip and always wished that I could have something done to make it smaller, but because plastic surgery is not something that was looked upon as something that you do; you just did not alter your appearance, so I never even considered it. So many times I did not pursue my dreams because of how I felt about myself. Then One day while in a waiting room, I saw the advertisement for Dr. Lam’s plastic surgery. The article talked about his credentials, experience and the procedures he performs; then I saw lip reduction, and became very excited and curious. So, I called his office and spoke with someone on his staff; she was very knowledgeable about the procedure and reassured me that Dr. Lam was competent (he even invented a way to numb the area without having to put you to sleep). It still took me a couple of years before I actually had the procedure done, but I am now so glad to tell you that he did a great job on my lip. The procedure was painless, however because of the lip being so large the recovery lasted a little longer than normal. I had a lot of swelling about three days after the surgery, but after a conversation with Dr. Lam on the phone, I was reassured that this was normal considering the size of the reduction. Some days I did not think that it was going to every get well, But Dr. Lam and his staff followed my progress to make sure that the results were exactly what we had envisioned. It has been six months now and my life has been changed; I now have the confidence to go after opportunities that I would have let pass me by six months ago.”

-L.A., Dallas, Texas