What is Lips Myomodulation?

Interesting and constant developments are involved in non-surgical aesthetic procedures with filler injection.

The time is over for a long time where we saw a wrinkle and we injected into the wrinkle to mitigate or remove it. It is important to treat the face as a whole. No part of the face exists independently and any action carried on a part of a face has an impact on the rest of the face. Hence the importance of true upstream consultation and take pictures to perform a real facial analysis at risk otherwise to obtain unnatural and unsatisfactory results.

The importance of integrating the role of antagonistic facial muscles into the treatment plans between those who create a lifting effect ( elevators) and those who powder the face ( depressors) is recognised .

Also, there are two types of muscles: skeletal and mimetic muscles. The latter, responsible for the face’s expression. The majority of those muscles have one of their insertion ending in the skin tissues. Their ability to fully recover their contraction capacity, therefore, depends essentially on the tone of the skin and its elasticity.

During the ageing process, the skin’s elasticity weakens, not to mention the underlying ptosis and loss of fat compartments, the bone loss causes further sagging of the skin.

We are now entering a new era, fillers are injected now at key areas in a small amount with the aim to:

– Facilitate and strengthen the action of a muscle, preferably  the levator muscles to create a lifting effect and

– To reduce the action of a muscle, preferably the depressor muscles, to accentuate the lifting effect indirectly.

The fillers thus become modulators of the action of the muscles, hence the concept of Myomodulation.

In the case that concerns us today, Lips Myomodulation, main muscles which are involved are :

– Levators ( Zygomaticus major and minor, levator labii superioris, levator labii superioris alaeque nasi )

– Depressors ( Septi Nasi, Depressor Anguli Oris )

– The lateral pull of the corner of the mouth  (Risorius )                                                                                                                     

We understand now that before injecting a filler in the lips to give more volume, straighten or elevate the corners of the mouth, create a better ratio between the upper and lower lip, it is important to consider the surrounding structures, the muscles without forgetting the teeth position to create a natural, rejuvenate and harmonious smile at rest and in animation.

As an example, the muscles responsible for raising the corners of the mouth are the Zygomaticus Major and Minor. These have their origin on the upper lateral surface of the zygomatic bone ( cheek area) and insertion on the skin at the angle of the mouth. They are powerful in a young adult. As you get older, the loss of underlying bone structure combined with the loss of fat tissue results in a constant stretching of these muscles with loss of contraction tone.

Other muscles, such as the Risorius, gain the upper hand, giving a more horizontal smile, and when the zygomaticus muscles weaken further, the depressor muscles such as the DAO ( Depressor Auguli Oris ) become stronger and give a sad look with the corner of the mouth moving downward.

Injecting Fillers below the zygomatic muscles at the bone level to restore the missing bone volume and giving projection will help theses muscles regain contractile power and indirectly play on repositioning the lip at the desired level.

This is Lips Myomodulatoion. Injecting on the surrounding supportive framework of the lips before injecting in the lips themselves is essential to avoid a weird and unnatural result ( Duck Look).

With this simple example, we see that finding lips rejuvenated and harmonious is not the simple fact of injecting into the lips.

To understand and know what will give you the best result for rejuvenated lips and which key site injections are needed to restore or improve your lips while keeping the harmony with the rest of your face, call today TheLondonFacialCare to book an appointment.