Lip Wrinkles – Causes & Treatments

Lip wrinkles tend to be one of the first areas of the face to develop wrinkles. However, they also seem to respond quite well to early treatment, even if it’s just to use a basic moisturizer.

Lip Wrinkles Causes

There are many reasons why these wrinkles develop. Often it is down to the natural loss of Collagen and Elastin as you age. Sun damage can also accelerate their development.

However, smoking is often a big factor if upper lip wrinkles or wrinkles around the mouth seem to be developing at a younger age than commonly expected. In fact, these wrinkles are often nicknamed as ‘Smokers Wrinkles’ because of this reason. They are also be referred to as Perioral wrinkles.

The reason why smoking can cause these wrinkles is because smoking ages the skin considerably. The damage of the smoke, combined with the repeated motion of pursing your lips together, can cause a big effect on the skin over the years. Not only this, but cigarette smoke has a strong drying effect on the skin. Given these factors, it’s no surprise that smoking causes many signs of accelerated aging.

The situation only becomes worse as you age – lip wrinkles can add years to your appearance. They also tend to be highly noticeable, as the lips and mouth are prominent areas of the face. We naturally tend to look at a person’s mouth when they speak, as well.

It is natural for your lips to lose a lot of their volume and fullness as you age. This is due to a reduction of Collagen and Elastin within your skin cells.

Treatments

Fortunately, there are several options available for treating lip and mouth wrinkles. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones.

Prevention

The first thing to do is keep them well moisturized, and protected from the sun. A good moisturizer and sunscreen is vital to all skin care – but especially the lips. However, many people tend to neglect this area of their face when they perform their basic skin care routine.

You can purchase certain skin conditioning lipsticks which may help. At the very least, a lip balm can be useful for keeping your lips well moisturized. It’s also possible to buy lip plumpers which claim to give your lips a fuller appearance.

Facial Exercises

There are also facial yoga exercises which have become popular online. One of the basic movements is to stretch your lips across the upper and lower rows of teeth, using your fingers. You then hold this position for a few seconds. However, it is dubious whether these kinds of facial exercises are effective in the long term, or even in the short term.

Some of the common wrinkle treatments aren’t appropriate for lip wrinkles. This rules out treatments such as chemical peels or microdermabrasion. These treatments are too damaging for the sensitive skin around the mouth and on the lips.

Collagen Filler

A popular surgical treatment is to have filler injected into the lips. Commonly, this will be a Collagen based implant. This can work quickly to give the lips a fuller appearance, and fill in many of the fine lines and wrinkles.

Botox/Dysport Injections

Botox or Dysport injections can also be used in this area – especially to treat deeper lines and wrinkles. This does carry the risk of causing too much muscle relaxation, however. This can lead to a droopy effect around the lips, which may last a few weeks.

Laser Resurfacing

A popular treatment for the lip area is to have laser resurfacing treatment, although it can be quite costly. This does give long term results, though. The latest laser resurfacing technology uses ablative lasers. These work on the deeper layers of skin, without directly effecting or damaging the surface layers of the lips.

Anti Wrinkle Creams

Finally, you can turn to anti wrinkle creams. This can be an effective solution, and certainly worth considering, especially if the wrinkles and lines are very fine. With regular treatment, you can see many of the finer lines to smooth out. Also, the moisturizing effect provided by the best wrinkle creams are a key component to repairing and caring for damaged lips.