When your lips sit in better balance with your face, you can smile and talk more freely, without your lips being the thing you notice every time you look in the mirror.
Lip reduction is often considered when your upper lip, lower lip, or both feel fuller than you find harmonious with the rest of your face. A consultation lets your surgeon look at the structure of your lips and work out with you whether this approach fits what you have in mind.
It all begins with an examination and a conversation. Your surgeon looks at the fullness, shape, and balance of your upper lip against your lower lip, listens to what you want, and works out with you whether to reduce the upper lip, the lower lip, or both, and roughly how much to take in order to keep your face looking harmonious.
Lip reduction is usually done under local anesthesia, meaning only the lip area is numbed while you stay awake; in some cases another form of anesthesia may be used.. The incision is placed on the inner surface of the lip, at the border between the wet lining and the lip itself, so the scar stays hidden inside and cannot be seen from the outside.
Through this incision, your surgeon removes a strip of lining and the tissue beneath it by a planned amount, then stitches the two edges together. As the closure heals, the visible part of the lip becomes thinner and usually sits in better balance with your face. When both lips are reduced, your surgeon takes care to hold the proportion between the upper and lower lip.
The procedure usually takes around 30 to 60 minutes, depending on whether one or both lips are treated and on your individual case. The incision is often closed with dissolvable stitches, or with stitches that are removed after a few days. You are then shown how to care for the incision at home before you leave.
Lip reduction reduces the fullness of the lip so it sits in better balance with your face. This is a long-lasting change because the tissue that is removed does not grow back, though your lips can still shift slightly over time and with natural aging.
After lip reduction, swelling and tightness in the lips during the first few days are normal, and your lips may look fuller than the final result until the swelling fully settles. Recovery differs from person to person; the milestones below are rough estimates.
As with any surgery, lip reduction carries risks you should know before you decide. Most are uncommon and can be managed, but they can still happen.
At The Gioi Dep, our surgeons place the incision on the inner surface of the lip so the scar stays hidden inside and cannot be seen from the outside, and they weigh carefully how much tissue to remove based on the structure of your lips and the proportions of your face. When both lips are reduced, our surgeons take care to hold the balance between the upper and lower lip.
Our surgeons will tell you honestly if what bothers you does not come from the fullness of your lips, but from your teeth, gums, or jaw, because a different approach may suit you better in that case. All of your wishes and expectations are talked through clearly in the consultation before any decision to proceed.
During the procedure, the lips are numbed, so you usually feel no pain. Afterward, the lips may swell and feel tight for the first few days, and this discomfort usually responds to oral pain relief taken as your surgeon directs.
The incision is placed on the inner surface of the lip, so the scar stays hidden inside the mouth and cannot be seen from the outside. Over time, a scar inside the mouth usually fades.
Many people return to light, low-activity work within about a week, once the obvious swelling has started to go down, although the lips may still be a little swollen. The right amount of time for you depends on how you heal and on the nature of your work.
The aim is for your lips to be thinner and in better balance with your face, rather than to create a preset lip shape. Most of the swelling settles in the first few weeks, and the lips keep softening and gradually settle over the months that follow. Results differ from person to person.
The lip tissue that is removed will not grow back, so this is a long-lasting change. Even so, your lips can still shift slightly over time and with natural aging, and no result can be guaranteed for everyone.
What matters more than a number is your general health and your ability to heal. In the consultation, your surgeon will look at your health and your lip tissue to work out with you whether this approach is a good fit.
This depends on the fullness and the balance between your upper and lower lip. Some people need only one lip reduced, while others look more balanced when both are done. Your surgeon will decide this together with you in the consultation.
For the first few days, eat soft or liquid foods, avoid foods that are very hot or hard, and rinse your mouth gently after eating to keep the incision clean until it heals.
Because the tissue that is removed does not grow back, your surgeon usually reduces conservatively to keep your balance. If the result falls short of what you hoped for, a revision can sometimes be considered later on, and this is talked through with you case by case.
Everyone's lips are naturally not perfectly even, so the surgery aims for harmonious balance rather than perfect evenness. Your surgeon will talk this through honestly with you before the procedure.
The next step is a conversation - book a consultation.
The content on this page is for reference only and does not replace a direct examination and consultation with a specialist physician. Surgical outcomes vary from person to person.