Softening the lines around the mouth

She had stopped wearing lipstick, which is how a lot of people describe this problem before they describe the lines.

She arrived asking for filler in the lines and we declined. Filling deep perioral lines individually in thin, crepey skin is how a mouth ends up looking heavy; the underlying problem was skin quality, not missing volume. We proposed resurfacing instead, and told her it would take three sessions and four months and that the deepest lines would still be there at the end.

Three fractional radiofrequency resurfacing sessions six weeks apart, with five days of visible healing after each — genuine downtime, planned around her calendar rather than squeezed into it.

The photograph is at four months. The finer lines have largely gone and the deeper ones are shallower and shorter. Two on the upper lip are still clearly visible. Her lips are the same size and shape they were, which she asked for specifically.

Individual results vary, and this treatment asks a lot of the client: sun avoidance, real downtime, and patience through a healing phase that looks worse before it looks better.