These days, it’s nearly impossible to scroll through Instagram without seeing a picture of a blogger or celebrity sporting an artificially plumped pout. According to data collected by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, requests for lip enhancements increased 50 percent between 2000 and 2016. That’s a lot of filler.
However, as NewBeauty reports, a different lip trend has been popping up on social media as of late — one designed to reduce the size of the lips. According to New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Melissa Doft, who specializes in cosmetic plastic surgery, lip reduction procedures tend to be more popular in Asian countries. As Dr. Doft explains, the procedure involves "removing skin from the lips along the dry-wet border of the vermillion" and using stitches to create a new lip line. The result is a smaller, thinner pout.
Though lip reduction is done as an outpatient procedure, make no mistake: It's surgery. Patients are usually placed under local anesthesia during the procedure — which takes between 15 and 30 minutes per lip, depending on the amount of tissue to be removed — and the stitches remain in place for one week, after which they dissolve or are removed manually. The pain, Dr. Doft says, is tolerable, but patients are advised to "eat a soft diet until the swelling resolves," which can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week.
Read more at Allure >>