LIP ENHANCERS

Do you want hot, sexy plump lips like Angelina Jolie has? Well, there’s a flurry of lip enhancers that have hit the market now which claim to help make your lips plumper and more appealing. It’s another case of beauty in a bottle. The question is, do lip enhancers work?

Medical researchers actually put together a controlled study and found the truth.

Kelly Cristos is anticipating her new look after she gets a Restylane injection to plump up her lips. “I just wanted a fuller upper lip to match my lower lip,” says Kelly.

Hopefully, this will finally give Kelly the look she’s seeking. She says she certainly did not get it by using over the counter lip enhancers. “They’re useless. I’ve tried quite a few over the counter lip enhancers, maybe about seven or eight of them. It was a waste of money,” exclaims Kelly. Each over the counter lip enhancer cost between twenty to seventy dollars, and Kelly certainly doesn’t think she got her money’s worth. “Those lip enhancers did nothing, apart from causing a slight tingly sensation on my lips.”

Dr. Steve Fallek, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, says, “Most of these lip enhancers are oil based or moisturizer based so there is almost no harm that can be done by them. Some of the lip enhancers have capsaicin in them, which is the agent in cayenne or red hot peppers so they cause a feeling of tingling which is almost like a burning sensation.”

And now, new research out of the University of Washington in the latest archives of facial and plastic surgery looked to determine if one of the products, called Lip Explosion, did anything to plump up lips.

Patients were asked to use the lip enhancing balm three times a day on the lips as per manufacturer’s instructions. Before and after photos were taken, and measurements were performed to accurately quantify the amount of plumping that truly occurred.

And guess what!!!!???

It didn’t work.

“In my opinion, most patients would do better buying chap stick over the counter for two dollars than spending a hundred dollars on the false claims of so-called lip enhancers,” says Dr. Fallek.

But there is a bit of good news to all this. Instead of wasting money on products like this, there are in fact a number of proven methods of lip augmentation, including the fillers like the ones Kelly is getting today. “There are great, effective lip enhancing products now, and the down time is almost nothing,” says Dr. Fallek.

Kelly says she finally got what she paid for. “A lip enhancer like this is exactly what I wanted!” she says.

To read the article, click here:

http://archfaci.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/7/3/203.pdf