Lip lift
Surgery, with stitches under the nose A strip of skin is cut out right under the base of the nose. That shortens the skin between the nose and the lip, called the philtrum.
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Dermapedia / CompareProcedures
Lip Lift vs Lip Filler
A lip lift is surgery. Lip filler is an injection you can have dissolved. A lip lift removes a strip of skin under the nose. It shortens the distance between the nose and the lip, and it adds no volume at all. Filler is a gel placed inside the lip, and it fades over months to years. No trial has ever compared the two.
At a glance
| The difference | Lip lift | Lip Filler |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | One operation, one cost | Repeats for as long as you want it |
Lip Filler
Side by side
The differences that matter
What you actually do
Lip lift
Surgery, with stitches under the nose
A strip of skin is cut out right under the base of the nose. That shortens the skin between the nose and the lip, called the philtrum.
Lip Filler
An injection, repeated over time
A hyaluronic acid gel is injected into the lip itself. The philtrum is not touched.
What you can expect to see
Lip lift
More lip and more tooth showing
The pink of the lip turns outward and upward. More of it shows, and more of the upper teeth show when your face is at rest.
Lip Filler
A fuller, more forward lip
The lip gets fuller and pushes forward. The same amount of tooth shows at rest.
More photographs
Lip Filler
What it will not do
Lip lift
It will not add volume
It changes a distance, not a size. A thin lip stays as thin as it was.
Lip Filler
It will not shorten the philtrum
If your upper lip skin is long, filler pushes the pink forward but the philtrum stays long. A lot of filler can make the lip look longer still.
How long it lasts
Lip lift
Stable across the published follow-up
People were followed for 12 to 59 months in four studies. Nothing longer has been measured.
Lip Filler
Months to about a year per treatment
Each product was measured on its own scale, so the numbers do not compare. In one product's trial, 79% of people were improved at month 3 and 56% at month 12.
Can it be undone
Lip lift
No
Skin has been removed, so it cannot be put back. A philtrum that ends up too short cannot be undone.
Lip Filler
Yes, in principle
Hyaluronidase breaks down hyaluronic acid filler. In the US this is an off-label use, there is no set dose, and more than one dose is normal.
The downside
Lip lift
A permanent scar under the nose
It sits in the crease at the base of the nose. It is usually well hidden, but in some people it shows. Surgeons also describe a wider scar, a toothy look, a distorted nostril base, uneven results, numbness and infection. No review has counted how often these happen.
Lip Filler
Swelling and bruising for days
Tenderness and redness too. The serious risk is filler entering an artery. That can kill the skin and, rarely, cause blindness. Skin that dies this way can scar.
Cost
Lip lift
One operation, one cost
You pay for it once.
Lip Filler
Repeats for as long as you want it
Each treatment lasts months to about a year, so the cost comes round again.
Who tends to be happy with it
Lip lift
- Best for - Someone whose upper lip skin has got longer, so no teeth show at rest. The complaint is proportion, not thinness.
- The mindset - A permanent change, accepted along with a permanent scar.
Lip Filler
- Best for - Someone with a thin lip and a normal-length philtrum who wants fullness and wants to be able to change their mind.
- The mindset - A treatment that can be adjusted or reversed, but has to be repeated.
What the lip lift evidence says
Lip lift
The lip lift evidence is thin but consistent. A 2022 review found only four studies that qualified, and none of them were randomised trials. Every study reported that the lip looked better on measurement, and that patients were satisfied. Results held steady over follow-up of 12 to 59 months.
The fine print
Lip lift
The 2022 lip lift review screened 464 articles and included two retrospective cohorts and two case series. The people studied were 92.4% female, aged 21 to 65, mean 36.6 years. A bullhorn pattern was used in 75% of the studies. Follow-up ran 12 to 59.1 months.
Lip Filler
Lip filler is FDA approved. A lip lift never went through product approval at all. Each filler had to be approved for a named use through randomised, evaluator-blinded trials. A surgical procedure does not go through FDA product approval. That is a category difference, not a verdict on which works better.
Lip augmentation is a named FDA-approved use for ten products: Juvederm Ultra XC, Juvederm Volbella XC, Restylane, Restylane-L, Restylane Silk, Restylane Kysse, Revanesse Lips+, RHA 3 and RHA 3 Mepi, and Belotero Intense (+) Lidocaine. Juvederm Ultra XC's lip indication was approved in September 2015, on a trial of 213 people randomised 3 to 1 against a delayed-treatment control group. Restylane Kysse's 48-week trial reported 88% of people meeting a one-grade improvement at week 8 and 60% at week 48; it was designed to show it was no worse than an unnamed comparator.
Common questions
Questions Patients Ask
Which is better, a lip lift or lip filler?
Neither, because they do different things and nobody has compared them. There is no head-to-head trial of lip lift against lip filler — the only paper describing both is a single case report where they were used together. A lip lift shortens the skin between the nose and the lip; filler adds volume inside the lip.
Can lip filler do what a lip lift does?
No. Filler adds volume; it does not shorten the philtrum or increase how much tooth shows at rest. In a long upper lip, adding volume pushes the pink of the lip forward while the philtrum stays long, and at higher volumes it can flatten the philtral columns and make the lip look longer.
Does a lip lift leave a visible scar?
It leaves a permanent scar in the crease at the base of the nose. It is usually well camouflaged there, but it is visible in some people, and scar widening or thickening is described in the surgical literature. No systematic review has tabulated how often that happens, so there is no reliable percentage to quote.
How long does a lip lift last?
The published follow-up runs from 12 to 59.1 months, and results were stable across it in all four studies a 2022 systematic review found eligible. Nothing longer has been measured. The change is structural rather than something that wears off, but the face keeps ageing around it.
Can a lip lift be reversed?
No. Skin has been removed, so it cannot be put back. Over-shortening of the philtrum, which produces a permanently toothy appearance, is one of the recognised failure modes and it is not correctable. This is the main practical difference from hyaluronic acid filler, which can be broken down with hyaluronidase.
Is there good evidence for a lip lift?
It is thin but consistent. A systematic review screened 464 articles and found four eligible studies — two retrospective cohorts and two case series, with no randomised trials, in a population that was 92.4% female. All reported improvement on measurement and on patient satisfaction. Its strength is the length of follow-up; its weakness is the absence of controlled design.
Why does lip filler have FDA approval and a lip lift does not?
Because they are different kinds of thing. Fillers are regulated products and had to be approved for a named indication through randomised, evaluator-blinded trials. A lip lift is a surgical procedure, and procedures do not go through FDA product approval at all. The regulatory difference is not a verdict on which works better.
Can you have both?
The literature contains a case report of a lip lift and filler used together, alongside other treatments, so it is described. There is no trial of the combination, no evidence on sequencing, and no published guidance on timing. Any plan combining them is based on the judgement of the surgeon and injector, not on published data.