Lip Wrinkles and a Non-Surgical Approach to the Lower Face

By Morris Westfried, MD

Published on August 20, 2009

Lip wrinkles, deep nasolabial folds (lines between the mouth and nose), and indented areas on the lower lip and chin can be made more youthful without surgery. Injections of small amounts of carbon dioxide can rejuvenate the skin in a few short treatments, safely and without downtime. Lip lines, deep corner creases, and deep wrinkles around the mouth are repaired, not just temporarily lifted. Carboxytherapy, which is used for stretch mark removal, cellulite, and dark eye circles, is also an excellent rejuvenation treatment for the lower face. In four to eight weeks, men and women can achieve a more youthful lower face and younger-looking lower eyelids without having to undergo surgery.

How Does the Carboxytherapy Work?

The treatment lifts tissue and rebuilds collagen by increasing oxygen locally. As a reaction to the temporary local increase in carbon dioxide, the body increases circulation and shunts oxygen into the area. This causes collagen to rebuild from the inside out and underlying fat to shrink.

What Areas of the Face Can Carboxytherapy Treat?

In the eye area, carboxytherapy diminishes the appearance of protruding fat pads and crepiness on the lower lids.

On the lip and mouth area, the treatment is ideally suited to vertical lip lines, or smokers' lines, which are difficult to treat with BOTOX® injections or dermal fillers. Carboxytherapy rebuilds the area safely over a period of a few weeks, with no downtime or that slight stretching sensation.

Carboxytherapy also rebuilds the thinned tissue over the lateral upper lip, as well as the marionette area of the lower mouth.

When injected into the fat, carboxytherapy also shrinks the prominent fat pads that increase the depth of the fold between the mouth and nose (nasolablial fold), jowls, and fat in the upper neck.

By injecting carbon dioxide below the skin, fat is reduced on the face and neck as it is on cellulite on the lower body. Jowls, lower cheek fat, and double chin fat can all be gradually reduced over a series of weekly sessions. Patients only experience temporary slight discomfort and no aftercare necessary.

Is Carboxytherapy Safe?

The carboxytherapy facelift is a safe, cost-effective treatment that offers an alternative to more costly treatments such as surgery or ablative carbon dioxide laser treatments. Patients remain awake for the treatment, which only takes a few minutes and has no risk of scarring, scabbing, protracted redness, or infection as laser resurfacing and other treatments do. Rather than treating wrinkles from the outside, carboxytherapy treats the wrinkles and signs of aging from the inside of the skin with the body's oxygen supply and renewed local circulation.

Morris Westfried, MD, has more than 25 years of experience in the aesthetic dermatology field and offers laser tattoo removal, acne treatment, and other skin care treatments from his Brooklyn, New York office.