Lips can be made fuller and facial lines can be made to look softer and less pronounced with a variety of materials available over the last several years.

Products such as collagen derived from the laboratory (animals and even humans) are available. They have the advantage of being readily available, require no additional surgery (no scars on another part of your body) - but frequently do not last more than several months.

Other options include remove fat and/or skin from another area of the body and transferring it to the folds and lines of the face or lips. These procedures require incisions and sometimes scars in the "donor sites" and may not last more than six to eighteen months.

New filler materials such as Radiance and Restylane are showing promise as they are readily available, do not require a "donor site", and may last between two to five years.

A final option for lip enhancement is a synthetic material known as Vortex which has been used in surgery to correct diseased blood vessels. This material comes in different shapes and configurations. It has the advantage of being "permanent" as it does not resorb or melt away. However, it can sometimes be felt by the patient through the lip tissues.

Complications are rare but must be thoroughly discussed before you decide to have surgery.