A lip lift in Raleigh with Dr. Michael Zenn restores a shorter, more youthful upper lip and reveals more of the smile that time has covered. Unlike lip filler, a lip lift is a permanent surgical solution to the elongated upper lip that comes with age, and it's frequently performed alongside a facelift for a complete facial refresh.
What Is a Lip Lift?
A lip lift is a surgical procedure that shortens the vertical distance between the base of the nose and the top of the upper lip, known as the cutaneous lip. During the procedure, Dr. Zenn removes a thin strip of skin from just beneath the nose and carefully closes the incision, which draws the upper lip upward and reveals more of the pink lip tissue, or vermilion. As the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has noted, aging causes the upper lip to grow longer and looser, sometimes referred to as a "long lip," which leaves less of the upper teeth visible when a patient smiles. Facial plastic surgeon Rod Rohrich has gone so far as to call the lip lift the missing link in facial rejuvenation, since mature patients with a long lip often cannot show their upper teeth well when they smile. A 2021 study published in PubMed similarly found that the subnasal lip lift technique reliably shortens the elongated upper lip and increases vermilion show, with most patients retaining a meaningful portion of that improvement years after surgery. This is a different problem than thin lips, which is why a lip lift accomplishes something dermal filler cannot: it repositions the lip rather than adding volume to it.
