Injection of fillers into lips has been a popular way to increase lip size and volume for decades. The concept of how it works is pretty basic—plump up the lip with filler to make it look bigger.
While this may sound simple, there has been some evolution (or perhaps “revolution” is more appropriate) in the way lips are filled.
first generation fillers
The first generation of injectors would focus on simply making the lips larger, but over time they learned that increasing volume wasn’t just about size. They discovered that there was a look and an art to doing this; lips could be enhanced while still maintaining a natural look and feel.
The first generation fillers (like PMMA) were good for making the lips appear larger, but they left the patients with very hard lumps under their skin. The problem was that these fillers didn’t dissolve and had to be surgically removed.
second generation fillers
Next came the second-generation fillers (like hyaluronic acid and calcium hydroxylapatite), which were a huge improvement. Although these injectables could still look overdone, they would dissolve over time so there was no need for permanent surgery to remove them. This meant that patients could get the look they wanted and feel it too.
third-generation fillers
This is all fine and well, but there was still room for improvement—which brings us to the third generation of fillers: polyacrylamide, alkylacylates and high molecular weight hyaluronic acid. The first two members of this group are very similar, being made from a polyacrylamide resin.
Both fillers have been approved by Health Canada for use in the lips, and both are extremely popular with patients .
The benefit of these third-generation fillers is that they are less visible that earlier formulations, with results that are extremely natural. They can be blended easily into existing tissue, with no lumps or bumps.
The end result of all this innovation is that the “puffy” look has been replaced with a more natural and youthful appearance .