Lip Lift in Turkey

The philtrum lengthens with age. A young adult typically has 12–15 mm between the base of the nose and the lip border in women, 15–18 mm in men; by sixty this has often increased by several millimetres, the lip rolls inward and the upper teeth disappear from view even when speaking. Some people are simply born with a long philtrum and have never shown their upper teeth at rest.

This is the specific problem a lip lift solves, and it explains why filler so often disappoints these patients. Filler adds volume to a lip that is already the wrong shape and in the wrong position — it makes a long, inward-rolled lip fuller but not shorter, and in large amounts it produces the heavy, projecting look people recognise immediately.

The techniques

What the package includes

• Surgeon consultation and measurement
• The procedure under local anaesthetic with sedation
• Pre-operative blood tests
• Five nights in a four-star hotel with breakfast
• All airport, hotel and clinic transfers
• A personal English-speaking coordinator
• Suture removal at five to seven days, before you fly
• Scar care products for the first three months
• Standardised before and after photographs
• Twelve months of remote aftercare

Why the stay is six nights for a 45-minute operation

Because the sutures come out at five to seven days, and the person who placed them should be the one to remove them. Sutures left too long in facial skin leave track marks; removed too early, the wound can widen. It is a small detail that disproportionately affects the one thing patients worry about most — the scar.

A lip lift is usually suitable if

• The distance from your nose to your lip is long — over about 20 mm in women or 22 mm in men.
• You show no upper teeth when your mouth is at rest or lightly parted.
• Your upper lip rolls inward and looks thin regardless of how much filler you have.
• Filler has made your lip fuller but not better proportioned.
• You are prepared to accept a scar beneath the nose.
• You are a non-smoker, or can stop at least four weeks before surgery.

You may need something else

• Your philtrum is already short: lifting further exposes too much tooth and gum and creates an odd, snarling appearance.
• Your concern is volume rather than length: filler or fat transfer adds volume, which a lift does not.
• You already show a lot of gum when you smile: a lift makes a gummy smile more pronounced.
• You are prone to keloid or hypertrophic scarring: the scar is on your face and this needs assessing first.
• You have had a previous rhinoplasty with a columellar incision: scarring in the area affects planning.
• You want something reversible: a lip lift is not.

Our self-check below gives you a starting answer, and a Valentmedica plastic surgeon reviews your photographs free of charge and will measure your philtrum before recommending anything.

1. Measuring: your surgeon measures the philtral height from the base of the nose to the top of the lip border, at the midline and at both peaks of the cupid's bow. These numbers determine the excision.
2. Marking the bullhorn: the excision is drawn as a gull-wing or bullhorn shape following the natural curve where the nose meets the lip, dipping beneath the nostril sills and across the columella base. Following that contour is what hides the scar.
3. Agreeing the amount: typically 3–7 mm is removed. More than about 7 mm risks exposing excessive gum and distorting the nostril base. You see the planned amount in a mirror before anything is cut.
4. Anaesthetic: local anaesthetic with sedation. You are comfortable and drowsy but breathing for yourself.
5. Excision: the marked strip of skin is removed. Only skin — the underlying muscle is preserved, because dividing it changes how the lip moves.
6. Undermining: the lip is gently released so it can roll upward without tension on the closure. Tension is what widens a scar.
7. Closing in layers: deep sutures take the tension so the skin edges meet without pulling, then fine sutures close the skin. This two-layer closure is the main determinant of how the scar turns out.
8. Checking symmetry: assessed with you sitting upright, comparing both peaks of the cupid's bow against the facial midline.

• Days 1–3: marked swelling of the lip and the area under the nose. The lip looks obviously lifted and the nostrils may look distorted by swelling. This alarms people and it is normal.
• Days 4–7: swelling settling. Soft food, no biting into anything, no wide smiling or lip stretching.
• Days 5–7: sutures removed. The scar line is pink and raised.
• Days 7–10: most patients are back at a desk job. The scar is visible but can be covered with makeup from about day ten.
• Weeks 2–4: swelling resolved. The lift settles slightly as tissue relaxes.
• Weeks 4–12: the scar is at its most noticeable — pink, slightly raised and firm. This is the phase patients find hardest.
• Months 3–6: the scar begins flattening and fading. The lip position is close to final.
• Months 6–12: the scar matures to a fine pale line sitting in the nose-lip crease.

Valentmedica works only with licensed clinics and hospitals in Istanbul and with plastic surgeons registered with the Turkish Ministry of Health who hold Turkish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons membership.

Risks you should know about

• Visible scarring: the main risk. Usually fades well into the nose-lip crease, but it is permanent and some people scar less favourably.
• Over-correction: too much skin removed, exposing gum and distorting the nostrils. Not reversible.
• Asymmetry: the two peaks of the cupid's bow lifting unevenly.
• Nostril distortion: widening or flattening of the nostril base if the excision extends too far laterally.
• Numbness: of the upper lip, usually temporary over a few months.
• Wound separation: uncommon, usually from tension or from stretching the lip too early.
• A more gummy smile: the lift exposes more gum, which is a problem if you already showed a lot.
• Infection: uncommon in this well-vascularised area.

If you have ever had a raised, spreading scar from a cut, piercing or acne, raise it before booking. The face usually heals well, but a keloid tendency is directly relevant to an operation whose entire trade-off is a facial scar.

A lip lift changes proportion; filler changes volume; a corner lift changes the direction of the mouth. They address different problems, and patients often need more than one.

Commonly combined with

• Rhinoplasty: both operate at the nose base, and combining them means one recovery and a coherent central face. See rhinoplasty.
• Corner lip lift: for downturned mouth corners, a separate small excision at each corner. Often what patients actually mean by "a sad resting expression".
• Lip filler: added three months later once the lift has settled, to address volume if the new proportion reveals that volume is also lacking. See dermal fillers.
• Chin augmentation: the lower face in profile is nose, lips and chin together. See chin and jawline contouring.

If you have existing lip filler, tell your surgeon. Most prefer it to have largely dissolved before a lift, so the lip's true position and proportion can be assessed rather than its filled appearance.

• Photographs: straight on with your mouth at rest and lightly parted, plus a profile, with no lipstick. The surgeon measures philtral height from these.
• Existing filler: tell your surgeon when you last had lip filler. Most prefer it to have largely dissolved so your lip's true proportion can be assessed.
• Scarring history: declare any keloid or hypertrophic scarring. The entire trade-off of this operation is a facial scar.
• Smoking: stop at least four weeks before and after. It impairs healing in exactly the tissue that determines your scar.
• Medication: tell your surgeon everything you take. Blood thinners and anti-inflammatories increase bruising around the mouth.
• Soft food: plan a week of it. Biting into things stretches the closure.
• Time off: plan 7–10 days, and expect the scar to be visible for several weeks afterwards.

What a lip lift achieves that nothing else can is proportion. Shortening the philtrum by a few millimetres rolls the lip outward, reveals the vermilion that was previously turned inward, and brings the upper teeth back into view when you speak — which is what makes a mouth read as youthful far more than volume does. Patients who have had years of filler often describe it as the thing they should have done first.

The scar is the honest counterweight. Placed in the crease where the nose meets the lip and closed in layers without tension, it fades to a fine line that most people cannot identify at conversational distance by twelve months. But it is permanent, it is on the most looked-at part of the face, and healing varies between individuals. We show it in our photographs rather than cropping it out, and you can see scars at three and twelve months in our before and after gallery.