Customized lip enhancement for clinical different lip features: An observational study.

Background: The request for lip improvement treatments with injectable hyaluronic acid (HA) is increasing. However, as the patient's needs can be extremely different, it is unconceivable to use the same technique/product for clinical different lips to grant customized results.

Aims: To provide a specific treatment approach for clinically different lips based on the Author's clinical experience.

Patients/methods: Patients belonged to four clinical groups: young lips requiring volume enhancement or a reshaping intervention, and senescent lips requiring rejuvenation or a rebuild intervention. At first visit T0, subjects underwent a pretreatment evaluation and the investigator performed an individual treatment based upon patient's esthetic goals and lip's baseline features. Lip fullness was assessed by the investigator using a Medicis Lip Fullness Scale (MLFS) at first visit (T0) and at 2 weeks (T1). Subjects and investigator answered to the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) at 2 weeks T1 and at 12 weeks (T2). A photographic evaluation was undertaken at T0 and T2.

Results: Only, in the two groups requiring volumization there was 1 grade of improvement in the MLFS (young lips-volume and senescent lips-rebuild). Nonetheless, the performed combination of techniques/products was overall very satisfactory: 80% of the subjects reported a much improved/very much improved outcome in the GAIS, and the same was reported by the investigator in 90% of the subjects. A weak positive correlation was found between MLFS responses and subject's GAIS at T1 in all groups.

Conclusions: This customized treatment approach, consisting in choosing the right gel technology injected in minimum quantities with the right technique, ensures a harmonic result avoiding aberrations and standardizations.