The eyes, nose and mouth are located on the same vertical line, in the central third of the face, which is the most important aesthetic area of the face. In fact, many times, these are the basic elements that allow us to recognize the faces of different people. The region of the mouth or perioral region, includes lips and teeth, nasolabial fold (groove that runs from the wings of the nose to the corners of the mouth) and chin. When a patient comes to the consultation to improve a specific part of this area, for example, increasing the volume of the lips, we must avoid letting the tree cover the forest, since sometimes a global improvement gives us a better aesthetic result.
If we approach this area globally, we must take into account that for it to have a good and beautiful aesthetic appearance, all its elements must be balanced. That is, very full and voluminous lips but with a small chin, “they don’t fit.” The same thing happens when the lip is very narrow but the jaw is very large or when the lips appear youthful but there is a very marked nasolabial fold, which is often typical of older people.
We usually recommend evaluating this aesthetic unit together, in such a way that the treatment will often be determined by the age and habits of the patient:
- Younger people usually benefit from more focused treatments, such as lip augmentation or lip contouring, since their nasolabial fold is barely noticeable.
- A smoker may require treatment of barcode perilabial folds.
- Someone older may require a quadruple approach: lip volume, reduction of the nasolabial fold, attenuation of the barcode and support of the angle of the mouth.
In almost all cases, by treating with different types of hyaluronic acid with different properties we can compensate for small defects and achieve very satisfactory results.
In summary:
- The perioral region is an important and striking aesthetic unit
- Each person will require specific treatment
- You should avoid seeing the different parts of the perioral region as something isolated (“I come to do the nasolabial fold”) but as a whole.
- The treatment of this area is based on the use of hyaluronic acid