It is common for deep vertical lines — sometimes called smoker’s lines, lip lines, or lipstick lines — to form around the mouth and on the lips as our skin ages. While they are called smoker’s lines, they can happen to anyone at any age, even those who don’t smoke.

Several treatment options to get rid of these fine smoker’s lines around the mouth include microneedling, chemical peels, and laser treatments. However, these procedures can be intense, painful, and require multiple sessions to achieve the full effect. They also might not be suitable treatments for sensitive or aging skin. Some at-home lip plumping treatments are available, but these only treat the surface and are minimally effective.

Instead, we recommend lip fillers, also called dermal fillers, as the best treatment to eliminate smoker’s lines. Lip fillers are a gentle, non-surgical, anti-aging treatment that can eliminate lip wrinkles, provide fuller lips, and encourage your body’s natural collagen production. But how exactly does lip filler help with smokers’ lines? 

What Causes Smoker’s Lines?

Smoker’s lines are fine vertical lines around the sides of the mouth, on the lips themselves, and in the upper lip area. They can be stubborn and hard to conceal because lipstick and concealer tend to sink into the deep lines and creases, making them appear more pronounced.

These lines are primarily due to aging and genetics, despite their name. As we age, the collagen and elastin in our skin break down, causing the skin to lose elasticity and form wrinkles. The lips and area around the mouth are susceptible to these effects, and some people’s genetics make them more prone to forming these lines. Loose collagen and elastin can happen to people as early as in their 20s.

While often caused by aging, the likelihood and severity of the appearance of these wrinkles and creases can be affected by other lifestyle factors. Harsh lines and wrinkles can be more pronounced if your skin has had significant sun damage, you smoke cigarettes, or you frequently tense your facial muscles (out of stress, to play an instrument, or any other reason).

How to Get Rid of Smoker’s Lines

Lip fillers, also called dermal fillers, are one of the best treatments for smokers’ lines. They are a quick, non-surgical lip augmentation treatment that eliminates wrinkles fast and has little downtime or side effects.

They are administered with an injector by a doctor. The lip filler is injected into critical areas around the lips and face that will plump up to fill out your facial features and eliminate the wrinkles. The procedure is generally not considered very painful, but numbing cream can help mitigate discomfort.

If you aren’t interested in an extreme lip-plumping effect, don’t worry. Lip filler treatments are customizable to you and your goals. Your doctor can work with you to focus on getting the anti-wrinkle, rejuvenation effect that you desire from your fine lines treatment without overplumping or drastically changing your appearance or facial expressions.

How Do Lip Filler Eliminate Smoker’s Lines?

FDA-approved hyaluronic acid fillers like Juvederm, Volbella, and Restylane Silk help eliminate smoker’s lines by hydrating the lips from the inside out and encouraging your body’s natural collagen production. Creating a fuller pout through hydration and collagen helps tighten the skin’s surface and eliminates the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth.

The injections themselves provide plumpness to the lips, but they also encourage the body to produce more collagen, prolonging the effectiveness of the treatment. However, the effects of lip injections fade over time, so regular treatment is required to reduce the severity of or eliminate smokers’ lines. Depending on your specific treatment plan, you should get lip filler treatments every 6-8  months to achieve and maintain the best results.

Since the treatment is just a series of injections, there is little recovery time, and it is suitable for most skin types. Read more here to learn about lip filler aftercare.

How to Prevent Smoker’s Lines

In addition to a lip filler treatment, positive lifestyle changes can help prevent or get rid of smokers’ lines. Taking good care of your health can go a long way to protecting and transforming your skin for years to come.

Healthy habits such as staying hydrated, wearing sunscreen and protecting your lips from the harsh elements, and prioritizing a hydrating skincare routine can help your skin look and feel your best. If you do smoke, it is best to stop smoking.

These healthy habits will help prevent harsh smoker lines from forming and help your lip filler treatment be most effective.

Make an Appointment to Get Rid of Smoker’s Lines Today

Are you interested in removing your smoker’s lines with lip fillers? At Great City Medical, we want you to look and feel your best. Our Dr. Yelena Tsyba will work with you to find the proper lip filler treatment for you to target those pesky upper lip lines and vertical lip lines. She can also discuss positive lifestyle changes you can make to help take care of your skin for years to come.

We also provide Botox injections and other dermatological treatments. Ask our doctors how they can help you keep your skin looking its best with no need for plastic surgery or other extreme cosmetic procedures.

Call to make an appointment in New York City with us today and say goodbye to smoker’s lines!

As we age, the collagen and elastin in our skin break down. This breakdown can cause the skin to lose elasticity, forming wrinkles and aging our appearance.

Wrinkles and deep creases can also form in our skin from sun exposure, smoking, and when our facial muscles are repeatedly tensed when we frown, smile, furrow our brow, or squint.

Luckily, botox injections can help relax the facial muscles and rid wrinkles and fine lines. But how does botox work to get rid of those pesky wrinkles, and how long does it take for wrinkles to disappear? Keep reading to learn the answers.

How Does Botox Get Rid of Wrinkles?

Botox is one of the most popular anti-aging treatments for both men and women of all ages because it effectively gets rid of wrinkles. But how does it work?

Botox treatment works by temporarily immobilizing and relaxing specific facial muscles that we tend to keep tense. Preventing muscle movement in those areas prevents those muscles from causing fine lines and wrinkles to form in the skin. This causes the skin to look smoother and more youthful, allowing your natural beauty to shine.

Regular botox injections can eliminate or reduce the appearance of dynamic wrinkles such as crow’s feet, forehead wrinkles, frown lines, and more. Botox can also treat static wrinkles caused by natural aging, sun damage, smoking, and more.

How Long Does it Take for Wrinkles to Go Away after Botox?

Wrinkles will not immediately vanish after your first botox injection. However, you can expect to see positive results from your treatment very quickly. Most patients observe a significant decrease in the appearance of facial wrinkles after just 3–4 days. Patients can expect to see the full effect around 14 days after their botox injection. First-time Botox users might need to wait longer than regular users to see great results.

Fine lines and shallow wrinkles will disappear first, while deeper, harsher lines and wrinkles like forehead lines and frown lines will take longer to fade. Around 14 days, all the treated areas will look smoother, fuller, and more youthful.

Botox treatments use chemical messengers to tell your facial muscles to relax and stop specific muscle contractions. It takes time for the message to get to all of the treated areas, so it can take up to two weeks to see the full results.

Does Botox Remove All Wrinkles?

Botox injections will rejuvenate your skin and make you look like you’ve gotten a facelift without the need for plastic surgery or other drastic measures. It helps relax your facial muscles and smooth your skin to eliminate or soften wrinkles and fine lines.

While no one wants to have skin covered in deep wrinkles, some wrinkles are natural on the face. They help define our facial expressions and are a key to natural-looking skin. Skin without any wrinkles can appear overly shiny, swollen, and unnatural. Therefore, botox injections should never eliminate all wrinkles from your face.

Our dermatologists will work with you to achieve the aesthetic results you desire while maintaining your skin’s healthy, natural appearance. We can work with you to use botox to remove fine lines altogether while softening the appearance of deep wrinkles and creases.

What Does Botox Tend to Treat?

Botox is excellent for treating and eliminating the appearance of those stubborn wrinkles and fine lines. However, did you know that botox can also be used to treat other medical conditions?

One other FDA-approved use of botox is to treat migraines. Patients who experience frequent and severe migraines can get a series of botox injections around the temples and head. This treatment reduces the severity and frequency of migraines.

Since botox helps relax facial muscles, it can also be injected into the jaw area to reduce painful jaw clenching and tooth grinding.

Finally, botox can be injected into the armpits to treat hyperhidrosis and reduce excessive sweating. It works by blocking the nerves in the sweat glands and preventing them from producing sweat.

Make a Botox Appointment

Are you interested in getting safe, effective botox injections in New York City? Dr. Yelena Tsyba can work with you to achieve and maintain the youthful appearance you’re looking for. Contact us today to add botox to your skincare routine and get the best botox treatment in NYC!

We also provide dermal fillers and other dermatological treatments. Ask our doctors how they can help you keep your skin looking its best with no plastic surgery or other extreme cosmetic procedures.

Dermal lip fillers are a great, easy way to enhance your natural lips’ shape and eliminate signs of aging like fine lines and creases around the upper lip and mouth — all without plastic surgery!

Lip fillers are an FDA-approved lip enhancement product that has been used for multiple decades. They work by enhancing lip hydration and locking in moisture in the lips. Lip fillers have also been shown to increase the body’s production of collagen, resulting in more youthful, plump lips.

If it is your first time getting an injectable treatment, you may have many questions about the aftercare and healing process. Lip filler may cause the treatment area to feel swollen, hard, or lumpy at first, but this is all part of the healing process, and the fillers will soften and settle over time. Keep reading to learn more about what to expect in the days after getting lip fillers.

Are Lip Fillers Supposed to Feel Hard?

Your lips may feel stiff or rigid immediately after injection with dermal fillers. Don’t worry — this is entirely normal, and the lip fillers will soften with time. Your lips may also be swollen and tender, which can contribute to the lip filler feeling hard under the skin.

Dermal filler treatments like Juvederm and Restylane are made of hyaluronic acid. This gel-like product naturally occurs in the body in places such as the skin, connective tissue, and the fluids of the eyes. Immediately after injection, the hyaluronic acid will be sitting on top of your cells, and it is designed to break down, bind with your lip tissue, and settle over time.

How Long Does it Take for Lips to Soften After Fillers?

Luckily, hyaluronic acid fillers should soften and settle pretty quickly. Immediately after lip injections, your pout will be fuller and fine lines around the mouth like smoker’s lines and marionette lines may soften or disappear.

There is little to no downtime after receiving lip fillers. The swelling around the injection sites will go away, and you will begin to see great results after a few days, with the maximum results after 14 days.

Lip fillers are a long-lasting treatment. Once softened and healed, you can expect to enjoy the full results for up to 6–9 months. After that time, you can make a follow-up appointment with your doctor to maintain your results.

Does Massaging Lip Filler Break it Down?

Your doctor will provide you with aftercare instructions after dermal filler injections. Depending on which treatment you receive, your anatomy, and your desired aesthetic results, they may give instructions to massage the lips carefully. Do not massage the lips if you are not instructed to by your doctor, as this may interfere with your final results.

Aftercare should also include drinking plenty of water, staying hydrated, avoiding strenuous exercise, and wearing sunscreen outdoors. You can also use specially designed ice packs to lessen any discomfort immediately after injection.

Is it Normal to Have Lumps after Lip Fillers?

Small lumps can be an average side effect after receiving lip fillers and are not cause for immediate concern. They can be caused by swelling or bruising at the injection site. They can also be caused when you receive a large amount of filler in one area, and the filler will soften over time. Most lumps should go away on their own within a few days.

If the lumps persist, they can be massaged or removed by your doctor at a follow-up appointment. After your first injection has settled and healed, any undesired aesthetic effects can be fixed with a touch-up injection. Your doctor may use hyaluronidase, an injectable enzyme that will break down large lumps of the hyaluronic acid.

If the lumps are extremely painful or appear to be infected, see a medical professional right away as it may signify something more serious.

Make an Appointment for Lip Filler Today

Our professional NYC doctors will work carefully with you throughout the lip augmentation procedure to achieve an enhanced but natural lip shape that works for your unique facial features and makes you look and feel your best.

If you are in NYC, call us and make an appointment for your consultation for lip filler today! Skip the plastic surgeon — our services are the best professional lip augmentation NYC offers.

Botox treatments, scientifically called botulinum toxin, are a fast-acting, non-surgical cosmetic procedure that will eliminate wrinkles like crow’s feet, fine lines, unwanted creases, forehead lines, and frown lines. We understand that you want to eliminate these wrinkles fast. But how long does it take to see the effects of botox?

You may see immediate improvements at the injection site, but it can take 10–14 days to see the full results after a botox injection. Keep reading to learn more about what results you can expect after your botox injection and how long it takes for botox to work.

Can You See Botox Results Immediately?

Botox injections do not work instantly, but you can expect to see positive results quickly from your treatment. Most patients observe significant improvements in the appearance of their skin after just 3–4 days. Patients can expect to see the full effect around 14 days after their botox injection. First-time Botox users might need to wait longer than regular users to see great results.

The appearance of fine lines and shallow wrinkles will lessen quickly, and deeper, harsher lines and wrinkles will take more than 14 days to fade. Around 14 days, all the treated areas will look smoother, fuller, and more youthful. Wrinkles and fine lines will disappear or appear smaller and softer.

Botox treatments use chemical messengers to tell your facial muscles to relax and stop specific muscle contractions. It takes time for the message to get to all of the treated areas, so it can take up to two weeks to see the full results.

How Long Does Botox last?

Over time, all of the chemicals from the botox treatment will get used up, so the results usually only last about three to four months. To maintain the maximum results, patients should schedule a follow-up treatment no more than four months after their first treatment.

At Great City Medical, your specialists can discuss your ideal treatment plan to ensure you maintain your desired aesthetic and always look your best.

What Can I Expect Immediately after Botox?

While you will not see the full results from your botox treatment immediately, you will notice differences in your skin immediately after a botox injection.

Botox is an FDA-approved cosmetic procedure with almost no recovery time and few reported side effects. Immediately after botox, you may experience some swelling and notice small red dots or bumps at the injection site immediately after treatment. Still, these should go away entirely within a couple of hours of treatment.

Try not to touch or rub the injection sites so that the Botox is not disturbed and does not spread to other facial areas. To prevent spread, it is also recommended to avoid exercise for 24 hours after your treatment and to keep your head elevated at night for the first few days for best results.

How Can You Tell if Someone Has Had Botox?

It might be entertaining to point at celebrities on TV and guess if they’ve had botox and filler — but it is pretty difficult or impossible to tell if someone has had botox when appropriately administered by a medical professional.

Botox treatment will enhance the natural look of your skin with subtle anti-aging effects. It should not interfere with your normal facial expressions or muscle movement. People may compliment you that you look great, but they won’t know you had botox!

Why Does Botox Make Your Forehead Shiny?

Light naturally reflects off of smooth surfaces, so the smoother your skin, the more light will bounce. Botox injections smooth the skin, which can cause it to appear shinier, especially if it is overdone.
Patients tend to struggle with forehead wrinkles the most, as these wrinkles can be profound and apparent. Therefore, it is tempting to request a large dose of botox in this area. At Great City Medical, we recommend dosage levels that will reduce the appearance of forehead wrinkles without causing the forehead to look unnaturally smooth and shiny.

Make a Botox Appointment

Are you interested in getting safe, effective botox injections in New York City? Call us today to set up your botox injection appointment with one of our medical professionals. We also provide dermal fillers and other dermatological treatments. We’ll help you get beautiful results with no plastic surgery. Our doctors help you stay healthy and keep your skin looking its best!