Botox for purse-string wrinkles reviews

Do you know why small wrinkles above the upper lip are called “purse-string”?

Because in appearance they resemble small folds from a tobacco pouch - a bag tied at the top with a cord in which tobacco was stored. We also came across other names for these wrinkles above the lip: smoker’s wrinkles, age barcode and “duck butt”. So what do you think? No matter how funny they are called, they age a woman’s face, and therefore many are looking for ways to remove purse-string wrinkles.

The women's site “Beautiful and Successful” knows how to solve this problem, and will be happy to share popular methods with our readers.

Reasons for appearance

There is a circular muscle around the mouth. It keeps our lips in a natural position.

Muscles are known to tense and relax. So, for example, if you blow out a match, the muscle around your mouth tenses a little; when you sleep, the muscle is in a relaxed position. That is, the circular muscle is mobile.

In people with active facial expressions, purse-string wrinkles appear at a fairly young age.

1. Those who actively work the orbicularis muscle in the mouth area are more prone to the early appearance of such wrinkles: glassblowers, musicians who play wind instruments, those who like to whistle something under their breath or take selfies with duck lips. And what can we say about those women who smoke?
2. Also, the appearance of an age-related “barcode” above the lip is associated with hormonal changes in our body. Unlike other muscles on the face, the orbicularis muscle is attached not to bone, but to subcutaneous tissue. As we age, the dermis loses its elasticity and the muscles around the mouth begin to weaken. All this leads to the formation of deep folds above the lip.
3. Most often, these changes occur before menopause. Therefore, the appearance of purse-string wrinkles above the lip is considered one of the signs of menopause. The women's website sympaty.net spoke in more detail about this period in women in the article Should I be afraid of HRT?

That is, the main reasons for the formation of wrinkles around the mouth include active facial expressions and age-related changes.

Associated factors that cause folds to appear above the lip are:

1. smoking;
2. playing wind instruments;
3. genetic predisposition;
4. sudden weight loss;
5. excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation;
6. hormonal imbalance, etc.

Correcting wrinkles in this area is not entirely easy, since the area around the mouth where they are located is very sensitive. However, in the arsenal of modern cosmetologists there are enough methods that help remove purse-string wrinkles.

Popular techniques

There are different ways to get rid of wrinkles above the lip.

Fillers

The most effective way to correct wrinkles is to inject something under the skin into this area. Therefore, subcutaneous injections – beauty injections – are very popular among those who like to correct and smooth the skin on their face with the help of medical cosmetics.

Fillers – dermal fillers – are injected under the skin above the lip. They lift the skin and smooth out wrinkles. Here's what the reviews say about it:

1. Fighting wrinkles around the mouth naturally is a useless and pointless waste of money. This will not fix the problem. I don’t believe in exercises for wrinkles either. I went to the clinic, they corrected me with Botox injections with the same composition that removes crow's feet. Great procedure. No wrinkles! By the way, fillers are cheaper than applying creams. Elena.
2. Injected 0.8 ml of hyaluronic acid into the upper border of the lips. Herself. There are no more wrinkles. Let them throw slippers at me, but paying crazy money for 1 injection is nonsense. No negative consequences. Marina.
3. I was injected with diluted Botox. He helped correct and remove the first wrinkles above the lip. I'm satisfied with the result. Julia.

We would, of course, not recommend correcting purse-string wrinkles at home using Botox injections. Why take such a risk?

It is better to seek help from a specialist, and it is recommended to look for him based on reviews on forums where real people discuss the problem of how to remove or get rid of purse-string wrinkles above the lip.

Lipofilling

Also pay attention to a correction procedure such as lipofilling. The essence of the procedure is that not chemicals are injected into the problem area under the skin, but the patient’s own fat. It is collected in certain areas (for example, in the groin area), cleaned and injected above the lip.

What is the advantage of such a procedure? The fact is that the patient is not allergic to his own fat.

The disadvantages are that the fat is absorbed and may be unevenly distributed under the skin. Feedback about this procedure:

1. I went to the clinic and knew that I would remove purse-string wrinkles and wrinkles under the eyes with the help of lipofilling. They “pumped out” 18 mg of fat from me, cleaned it, and, under local anesthesia, inserted it under the skin through small incisions on my face. Let me make a reservation right away: no stitches were placed on my face. The incisions were sealed with a special plaster, which I removed after a couple of days. No swelling or bruising. Tolerable. I'm pleased with the result. Alyona.

Bioraming

Another method that is practiced to correct wrinkles above the lip is bioramming. The bottom line is that the area above the lip and the upper border of the lip itself is stitched with special absorbable threads that will hold the area around the mouth and prevent the muscles from relaxing. How to make a frame for the lips - support.

These threads last up to 2 years. Those who decided to undergo this procedure were, in principle, satisfied with the result.

They only note that the rehabilitation was very painful and long.

We talked about injections and bioramming, because these methods are good for removing purse-string folds that have appeared. That is, they can be considered the most effective methods in combating this problem.

Peelings and resurfacing

For those who are categorically against such intervention, more gentle methods of getting rid of purse-string wrinkles are used.

Purse-string wrinkles can be removed with the top layer of keratinized skin. Cosmetologists advise taking this step only with deep wrinkles. After all, in fact, correction of purse-string wrinkles with laser resurfacing or chemical peeling is a kind of facial burn. The skin takes weeks to recover after such procedures. Reviews often mention that small squares from the laser remain on the face for a long time. In addition, the skin flakes off.

To achieve the desired effect, you will need to undergo several procedures over several months. But you won’t get the same result as from injections or bioramming from peeling.

Now let's focus on laser resurfacing.

Laser resurfacing

Laser facial cleansing can remove small wrinkles around the mouth. Although this procedure does not give the same result as filling the subcutaneous space with fillers, there are also reviews about laser resurfacing of purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip.

1. The device was brought to my face. It was very painful above the lip, as the skin there is sensitive. After the procedure, my face burned like after a steam room. An hour later. The doctor’s advice is not to wash your face with water for 10 days, wipe the area above the lip with chlorhexidine and apply Bepanten. The redness and peeling lasted for several days. Added moisturizer. The fine wrinkles above the lip have hardly disappeared. After 3 months I repeated the procedure. Skin condition is much better. Wrinkles after the second procedure almost disappeared. Ada.

Operation

Less often, patients turn to specialists and ask to remove purse-string wrinkles using plastic surgery - a facelift. This technique is used only when the methods described above do not help solve the problem.

Prevention

Don't forget about facial exercises that help you stay youthful longer. Our site talked about how to do yoga for the face correctly to avoid the appearance of wrinkles.

You can also do the following simple exercises throughout the day:

1. Round your lips into an “O” shape and return to the starting position.
2. Pull your upper lip over your teeth.
3. Roll the balloon in your mouth along your cheeks and above your lip.

That is, do everything with your lips so that the skin around them tightens.

Always remain young and beautiful, and no age barcodes above your lip!

Julia, Karina and Christina - about their first experience of using Botox, an independent review of the procedure.
Six months ago, three beauty insiders aged 30+ - Yulia, Karina Tumanskaya and Kristina Spivak - decided to undergo their first Botox procedure, reviews of which will be below. All three had it done at the Sharm plastic surgery clinic with doctor Gaik Babayan. Why did they come to this idea, did they like the effect, what surprises did they encounter - and will they repeat it?

Karina Tumanskaya, 30 years old:

I had no doubt that it was time for me to get Botox injections for my face. I have active facial expressions. In addition, due to frequent headaches, a strange habit appeared - raising my eyebrows with force. It seemed to me that this way the pain and feeling of numbness in my forehead would recede a little. As a result, two creases and a network of fine wrinkles formed on the forehead. Having measured the wrinkles with Yulia (who, in my opinion, had none at all) and Christina (barely noticeable small perpendicular ones on the bridge of her nose), I decided that with them it might be a whim, but I simply need Botox :)

The doctor, Hayk Babayan, whom I knew before and trusted him completely, immediately warned me: the creases will not go away completely, they can only be removed with a combination of Botox + fillers. But Botox will save me from the habit of raising my eyebrows: “During the time that the muscles are frozen, they will simply forget about this tic.”

As a result, we decided that we should do 30 units for horizontal wrinkles, 20 for eyebrow wrinkles, and 10 units for crow’s feet.

I have a high pain threshold. That's why I lay on the couch with a smile. In my opinion, Botox doesn't hurt at all. There are minimal unpleasant sensations when the needle enters with some kind of incomprehensible crunch, but they are not painful, but rather irritating.

The whole procedure lasted about 5 minutes. After it, small bumps and redness formed at the injection site, which lasted about 20 minutes. Well, due to thin skin and closely spaced capillaries, I still “grabbed” two small bruises - on the bridge of the nose and on the forehead, which lasted for a week and a half (camouflaged with any foundation at a time).

There are no sensations immediately after Botox. The first two days too. The first signs of freezing had already appeared in Christina and Yulia, and I still sat and waited - at first I even thought that I was among the minimum number of people on whom Botox does not work. But no. After 4 days the forehead “stood up”. This happened gradually and somehow completely naturally - it seemed to me that I would definitely feel the Botox, and the frozen facial expressions would greatly change my appearance. (Yulia also added fuel to the fire with her comments “it seems that I needed a forehead to smile” and “for some reason my eyes are swelling”:)

In fact, I felt my Botox as if it were my own. I still have minimal facial expressions. Yes, I could no longer frown or raise my eyebrows much, but the emotions on my face were clearly visible. Longitudinal wrinkles, as warned, did not completely disappear, but they smoothed out quite significantly. So next time I'll probably add fillers to get rid of them completely. Well, yes, I plan to repeat the Botox itself as the previous one dissolves. I confirm that it’s not scary, and if you’ve been planning for a long time and can’t decide, try it.

Kristina Spivak, 32 years old:

But I’m afraid of needles, injections and doctors. Therefore, most of all I was worried that it would hurt. And lastly, oddly enough, for the result.

Why did you decide to inject? I am 33 years old, my skin is dry, my facial expressions are quite active, transverse wrinkles have formed on the bridge of my nose and longitudinal wrinkles have appeared on my forehead, and I was afraid that they would turn into real creases.

Already on the second day I began to feel the result. The forehead froze gradually and imperceptibly - no feeling of tightness, no “corset on the face.” I simply noticed in the mirror that the emotions of surprise, irritation and anger were now barely detectable. This is not to say that facial expressions disappeared completely, no, they simply became softer and more veiled.

Now 5 months have passed. Botox is gradually dissolving, and I am going for the next procedure - I am no longer afraid of it and I really liked the result.

Yulia Grebenkina, 32 years old:

I started thinking about Botox around the age of 30. Then I began to notice for the first time that longitudinal wrinkles on the forehead were more noticeable than before, and did not always smooth out after an intensive course of moisturizing.

But I finally decided after noticing two things on my face: firstly, wrinkles folded on top of each other in the area above the outer part of the eyebrow, closer to the temples. Secondly, there is a clear drooping of the outer corners of the eyes. That is, of course, to someone from the outside it didn’t seem so obvious, but after 30 years the situation clearly changed by a millimeter or two, and for me it was obvious that the face was “sagging” on the outer sides - a type of aging, like my dad’s .

Gayk assured me of the main thing: if the drug is administered correctly, then the eyebrows can rise again by these couple of millimeters. He didn’t see any serious static wrinkles on my forehead, but he advised me not to drag them out, since they are already visible in facial expressions - and Botox can prevent them, and not save them when a crease has already formed. Plus, I saw in the photo for the blog that I often wrinkled my forehead - and I didn’t like the result, I wanted to remove this movement from everyday life.

The procedure itself is unpleasant, but tolerable. I seem to be the only one who cried - but in general I always cry when they do something on my forehead. The forehead “frozen” gradually - it was a surprise for me that it “rose” for two weeks, I thought immediately. The first interesting observation was that I now cannot smile as usual. Apparently, half of my smile came from the movement of the forehead muscles - but now the smile required effort and activation of some other muscles. It took two or three weeks to get used to it. And then I just stopped noticing anything! My forehead smoothed out and became perfect, well, it’s just everything I need. I walked and thought - well, why were you afraid for so long?

An unpleasant surprise was slight swelling of the lower eyelids after the procedure. The reason is not clear, but the experts I interviewed agreed that Botox slightly disrupted the lymph flow through small vessels. On the other hand, they predicted that the swelling would last as long as the effect of Botox - that is, 4-5 months. And they passed within a month, I didn’t even have time to test all the eyelid creams -)) But I managed to read a lot of reviews on forums about complications from the procedure that can happen even to the most experienced doctor, because no one can cancel the individual reaction.

But nevertheless, my intention to continue doing Botox has not changed - the result is worth it!

Botox began to “unfreeze” for me in December, after 4.5 months. Now it’s January, my forehead mobility has returned by half. When I return to Moscow after vacation, I’ll go for more!

And some facts. We have already written about Botox here and a little here, so we went to the doctor mentally prepared. But some fairly standard questions continued to worry us. If you are also interested in them, the answers are below. If you have already learned everything from your own experience, feel free to skip it.

What is Botox and is it dangerous to inject it?

Botox is a neurotoxin of botulism type A. In fact, it is a very terrible poison. However, the one used in cosmetology is diluted 40,000 times. It will not be possible to administer a lethal dose to you even on purpose :) The only danger is if you went to a not very competent doctor and the drug was injected too close to the nerve or directly into the nerve. This will lead to lowering of the eyebrows, artificial hernias, and facial distortion. But, fortunately, after six months, when the Botox dissolves, everything will return to its place. The scientific world knows nothing about allergies to Botox, but cases have been recorded (very few of them) when the drug simply does not work.

How does Botox work?

Every day we make about 20,000 movements with our facial muscles. Botox causes temporary muscle paralysis, which limits facial expressions. And the less facial expressions, the fewer wrinkles.

How is the procedure done?

The procedure itself lasts about 10 minutes. Emla anesthetic cream is applied to the treated areas, the doctor places small dots, marking the injection sites, and injects the drug under the skin with an insulin syringe. The quantity of the drug and injections is calculated individually. You begin to feel the effect of Botox on day 2-3, the area is completely “set” after 2 weeks. The effect will last from 4 months to 6. Botox is usually injected into the upper part of the face to get rid of forehead wrinkles and crow's feet. For the lower part, fillers are usually used.

Are there any contraindications and what should not be done after administration of the drug?

There are contraindications for absolutely all procedures, and if something bothers you, you should discuss it individually with your doctor. He will also tell you what is undesirable to do after the procedure. Typically, the recommendations are as follows:

1. do not use cosmetics for the first couple of hours
2. do not visit baths and saunas in the first few days
3. do not abuse alcoholic beverages
4. do not treat injection areas with alcohol-containing products
5. It is advisable to actively use facial expressions in the first hours after injections, so the drug will begin to act faster. But the widespread belief that after injections you need to take a horizontal position (otherwise the drug will supposedly fall down) is nothing more than a myth. In fact, so little of the drug is injected that gravity has no effect.

We thank the Sharm plastic surgery clinic and surgeon Gaik Pavlovich Babayan.

Among all the facial wrinkles that make a woman want to go to a cosmetologist, purse-string wrinkles around the mouth, especially above the upper lip, occupy an honorable third place - after wrinkles under the eyes and between the eyebrows.

The area around the mouth is arranged quite cleverly, and the wrinkles are different in design. Let's see what happens on the upper lip and what to do about it.

You can read about “puppet” wrinkles going from the corners of the mouth downwards here>>

What are the wrinkles above the upper lip called?

Vertical wrinkles above the upper lip are called purse string - they are most often complained about to a cosmetologist. Pouches have long gone out of use, many have no idea what it is or what it looks like, but the name remains.

There is also a horizontal wrinkle between the lip and nose - it is not called at all, it is incorrect because it is much less common. We'll talk about her some other time.

Causes of purse-string wrinkles

There are only two reasons:

1. Overactivity of the orbicularis oris muscle
2. Age-related tissue atrophy of the upper lip

Overzealous helper - orbicularis oris muscle

The orbicularis oris muscle is responsible for closing the lips and makes up the bulk of their volume. It forms a ring around the mouth, located in the thickness of the upper and lower lips.

Its usual mode of operation is a slight tone that prevents the lips from spontaneously sagging.

Any muscle shortens when tense, and the orbicularis oris muscle is no exception. If you tense it, it will become shorter, reducing the circumference of your mouth. Where should the lips go? They first compress more tightly, and then protrude forward - they make a “tube”. With this new reduced size of the mouth, the skin of the lips remains redundant, and it is forced to gather into folds (as happens when tying a pouch).

We rarely do this - if we need to blow on something, whistle, when kissing. But some people have a naturally overactive orbicularis oris muscle, and they involuntarily clench their upper lip slightly when speaking or smiling. Moreover, the person himself does not notice this until he sees it in random photographs or videos.

The result of constant “folding” of the upper lip is the breakdown of the skin framework. These are visible purse-string wrinkles.

Those who smoke are a different story. To hold a cigarette, they specifically strain the orbicularis oris muscle, otherwise the cigarette will fall out. The result is the same - constant folding of the skin of the upper lip and breakdown of collagen fibers. Therefore, such wrinkles are also called smoker's wrinkles.

In people with such increased facial stress on the upper lip, vertical wrinkles may appear quite early.

Age-related atrophy of the soft tissues of the lips

1. Although the framework of skin fibers breaks as a result of the action of a particular facial muscle, whether or not it breaks depends on the strength of the framework. While the skin is young, it has enough strength and elasticity to withstand the stress of constant lip folding. But sooner or later everything changes, and a moment comes when the strength of the collagen fiber framework becomes insufficient, and it breaks under load. Those. aging skin breaks down easier.
2. With age, the volume of the soft tissues of the lip decreases due to atrophy of the subcutaneous fat layer. Yes, even the lips have fat. In youth, this thin layer of fat serves as a shock absorber between the skin and the lip muscles. When it disappears, the orbicularis oris muscle begins to act directly on the skin of the lips with an already known result. But that's not all.
3. When the fat layer in the lip disappears, the skin area does not decrease, and the skin remains slightly superfluous. Lip a little deflates. This leads to the formation of microfolds of the skin, which quickly turn into regular wrinkles. This process affects even those who have never had hyperactive orbicularis oris muscle. Such calm girls often do not notice that the lip has begun to change until the lipstick spreading into them begins to show wrinkles.

So, since purse-string wrinkles on the lips arise primarily from the constant “folding” effect of the orbicularis oris muscle on the skin of the lips, you can fight this in three ways:

1. slow down the orbicularis oris muscle
2. increase the strength of the lip skin
3. return the lip to its previous volume so that the folds straighten out (with age-related atrophy of soft tissues)

How to remove wrinkles around the lips yourself

Gymnastics and exercises for wrinkles above the upper lip

I don’t want to upset or disappoint anyone, but... what is the mechanism for the formation of purse-string wrinkles over the upper lip? First of all, this is constant work of the orbicularis oris muscle.

During gymnastics, what can you do with your upper lip? Just squeeze and unclench it. You can imagine the result yourself - deepening of wrinkles around the lips. Let's remember smokers - they do lip gymnastics all the time, the result is “smoker's wrinkles”. Soon, apparently, we will have to introduce the term “gymnast wrinkles”

Lip taping for wrinkles

Tapping is an interesting technique and, in principle, can help. But numerous offers on the Internet to tape lips to eliminate wrinkles look a little strange. To be effective, tapes must be worn constantly during active articulation, i.e. when we talk. People don’t often talk to themselves alone; usually they still need an interlocutor

How many people can walk around with their upper lip taped while communicating with other people?? Unless you work in telephone calls, this is a case of “the cure is worse than the disease.”

Creams and serums against purse-string wrinkles

Any good, properly selected cosmetics will benefit the upper layers of the skin, including the skin of the upper lip. Therefore, it is advisable to use creams after 30–35 years. How effective all this is is another question, but even if you can increase the strength of the skin by 5-10%, it is worth trying. Suddenly these percentages are just not enough.

Just don't look for it special creams for the upper lip, and expect miracles from them. The power of cosmetics lies in its small but cumulative effect. This is daily systematic work year after year, otherwise there is no point.

Unfortunately, there will be no miracles - you won’t be able to remove wrinkles that have already appeared on your own. Let's move on to methods that actually work.

Correction of purse-string wrinkles around the lips by a cosmetologist.

Botox and Dysport against wrinkles above the upper lip

This is what acts on the main cause of purse-string wrinkles - hyperactivity of the orbicularis oris muscle. To relax this muscle and prevent it from folding the skin of the upper lip and wrinkles, we inject Botox into the lips.

Of all lip injections, this is the easiest, fastest, most effective and inexpensive. In general, this is a favorite procedure, including for myself.
There are few injections (2 or 4), not deep - there are no bruises.

Yes, there are some nuances that the cosmetologist should discuss with you in detail, but the effect for the majority is excellent. The lip barely relaxes, and the folding of the skin stops. If there haven’t been wrinkles yet, they won’t exist. If they are already there, then of course they will not disappear instantly - the skin needs some time to build up a normal collagen framework in places of fractures, but this will definitely happen. After all, the skin is alive, it repairs itself, you just need to stop breaking it all the time. The shallower the wrinkles are at the time you start using Botox, the faster they will disappear, so it makes sense to start the method earlier.

For shallow purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip, Botox or Dysport alone is often enough to get rid of them.

Possible problems with Botox and Dysport on the lips

Temporary difficulties when using botulinum toxins may occur when unnecessary relaxation lips. Our microdoses, of course, do not reach the point where the lip becomes completely suspended. But there may be some uncertainty - “are the lips in place” in the first weeks. This can interfere with people in “speech” professions. It’s better for them to get Botox on their lips for the first time before going on vacation to understand how they feel and decide how comfortable they can work. 2-3 weeks is usually enough for adaptation. According to our many years of observation, approximately 15% of patients who have tried Botox in the upper lip once do not want to repeat the experience - they feel uncomfortable. The rest either do not feel discomfort at all, or stop noticing new sensations after a few days.

It's more complicated with the lower lip. If the sagging on the upper lip is usually only a sensation of the patient himself, and nothing is visible to others, then on the lower lip there may be a visible distortion of the lip. It is usually noticeable when smiling, but sometimes also when articulating. Of course, everything goes away, as always with botulinum toxins, but you somehow have to endure several unpleasant weeks. Therefore, to eliminate purse-string wrinkles on the lower lip Botox and Dysport are used much less frequently.

Fillers against purse-string wrinkles around the lips

This is our second favorite method to remove wrinkles around the lips.

Hyaluronic fillers make it possible to compact the deep layers of the skin of the upper lip, creating an elastic cushion under the places of constant folding that absorbs the load on the skin. If the wrinkles already exist and are deep, the gel can be placed exactly under them - lifting the bottom of the wrinkle and making it not so deep and noticeable. But the classic filling of purse-string wrinkles with filler is rarely used, because wrinkles are too small. More often, “reinforcement” or “blanching” techniques are used, evenly placing hyaluronic acid in the upper lip.

This works especially well if the second mechanism for the formation of purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip has been added - soft tissue atrophy. Hyaluronic acid restores the lost volume of lip tissue, and the skin straightens and tightens as before. The result - reduction of wrinkles - is visible immediately.

Dense fillers for the upper lip are not very suitable, since the wrinkles here are always NOT deep, and in order to correct them, the filler must be inserted superficially. But with the superficial introduction of a dense gel it is easy to obtain hypercorrection - raised injection marks, or Tyndall effect - when the gel shows a slightly bluish tint through the skin.

incorrect correction of wrinkles with filler

To avoid such “beauty” we often use soft fillers using special equipment. Belotero Soft is ideal.

But during active facial expressions, a soft filler can become wrinkled before enough collagen has grown in the skin of the lip. Therefore, if facial expressions are very active, it is better to inject fillers second stage after Botox - 2 weeks. If facial expressions are not very good, then you can inject hyaluronic acid yourself, without botulinum toxins.

Keep in mind that it is not always possible to avoid bruising with this technique, so The procedure should not be done on the eve of an important event.

There can be no sagging, so the method is suitable for eliminating wrinkles on both the upper and lower lips.

Mesothreads, Aptos-nano - we reinforce the pouch

This method is aimed at increasing the strength of the skin of the upper lip - its reinforcement. The threads are inserted parallel to the red border in the lower half of the space between it and the nose. First, the elasticity of the threads interferes with the folding of the lips, and then this is done by the collagen framework that grows on them. Usually, in one procedure, 5 threads are installed on the right and left; 1-2 threads will not have much of an effect.

The method is very effective, but it very much depends on what threads were used and what technique was used. Most of the disappointed reviews are due to the fact that they chose the WRONG threads and installed them incorrectly.

What is better - Botox or mesothread?

Like Botox and Dysport, mesothreads do not immediately eliminate visible wrinkles, but help skin cells “heal” them.

Disadvantages of threads compared to Botox:

1. There are more injections (10) and they are deeper, so anesthesia is very desirable. It’s good if the cosmetologist knows how to inject ultracaine, anesthetic cream is not enough for many - the place is very sensitive.
2. Bruises often.
3. More expensive. The procedures are generally not expensive in cosmetology, but still.

Pros of threads:

1. There are no difficulties with articulation, smile distortions and other short-term but annoying side effects of Botox on the lips. After all, some people can wait a couple of weeks until everything settles down, but others can’t.
2. You can put it on both the upper and lower lips.
3. They always work - reinforcement is reinforcement, and resistance to botulinum toxins occurs. The method is usually used for those for whom Botox is not suitable.

Mesothreads or fillers - which is better for purse-string wrinkles around the mouth?

To correct purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip, both methods work through reinforcement - increasing the strength of the lip skin framework, so they are similar and often equivalent. But there is one difference that is sometimes decisive when choosing. Fillers add volume to the lip, mesothreads do not.

When there are signs of atrophy of the skin of the upper lip, a small “thickening” of it with filler is very useful - this returns the lip to its previous condition and everything looks natural.

But if the skin has not yet begun to thin, the excess bulge usually does not make it look good. Especially if the patient herself categorically does not want to hear about even a slight lip augmentation (often in vain, but she decides. In such a situation, Aptos-nano or mesothreads are needed, which have virtually no effect on the thickness of the skin.

Which threads are better - Korean or Aptos?

To combat purse-string wrinkles around the mouth, you need simple threads, without notches. These are either ordinary smooth mesothreads or the Aptos seriesnano.

Their operating principle is the same, but the material is different, hence the different effectiveness. Aptos causes not just greater stimulation of collagen synthesis, but several times greater stimulation. Therefore, the effect of Aptos is noticeably stronger. Korean threads are noticeably cheaper, but their effect is much more modest. As a result, to get the same effect from mesothreads as from Aptos, you need to do some repeated procedures. There are no savings.

Do not do threads on the eve of important public events - there is a significant risk of hematomas

Biorevitalization and mesotherapy against purse-string wrinkles

- methods that increase the strength of the skin by enhancing the synthesis of collagen in the skin of the lip. How it works - see here.

It all works well in combination with Botox, fillers and especially with threads. After all, the result we need is not to “slow down” the lips, but to eliminate wrinkles. And they will disappear only when skin cells synthesize its new framework. Mesotherapy and biorevitalization perfectly help cells produce more scaffold collagen.

Unfortunately, neither biorevitalization nor mesotherapy can independently remove already formed wrinkles above the lip can not. If you don’t slow down the orbicularis oris muscle in its destructive work, or if you don’t add skin-strengthening reinforcement in the form of threads or fillers, the cells will simply don't have time repair the collagen framework of the skin and heal wrinkles.

Our favorite proven scheme for deep wrinkles above the upper lip is Botox, after 2 weeks hyaluronic acid or threads, after another 2 weeks mesotherapy 4 times/once a week.

Removal of wrinkles above the upper lip with peelings, laser and other devices

This is not a typo - these methods eliminate purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip delete. If you cannot wait for results for months, but are willing to wait a few weeks until everything heals and forget about the problem, these methods are for you.

True, purse string wrinkles are removed from the top layer of lip skin, with all the attendant risks and restrictions, but still.

In our experience, it is worth going for such procedures only when deep wrinkles above the upper lip. In this case superficial peelings or light fractional laser exposure do little to help, you need to remove the top layer of skin along with wrinkles - you need real serious sanding.

After such procedures, there is an increased risk of pigmentation. Even in winter, be sure to use creams with good SPF protection, and in the sunny season it is better to refrain from such procedures altogether. Therefore, plan in advance whether you can hide from the sun in the first month.

It’s simply not worth exposing your only face to a burn (no matter how it’s done, laser or acid). Skin needs for such procedures prepare - create a supply of nutrients for regeneration. Mesotherapy will help here - at least 2 procedures before laser or peeling, 2-4 after. Then the chances of beautiful healing are good.

But you won’t be able to forget about the problem forever - because if the cause of purse-string wrinkles above the upper lip is not eliminated, they will appear again. And again Botox, fillers, mesothreads, biorevitalization - now to maintain the achieved result.

You can see how to inject Botox into the upper lip here: