Lip Plumper

By: Patrick Mallucci
Created on 11th August 2010

Mr Patrick Mallucci of leading cosmetic surgery practice, London Plastic Surgery Associates, explains how he can offer his patients a permanent pout

Permanent implants are a permanent solution to lip enhancement. Made of soft silicone, they are very different to breast implants, as they don’t have the same consistency of silicone or shell casing.

It is important to remember that silicone is used in many prosthetic materials throughout the body because it is an inert material. The PermaLip product is very soft and conforms to the shape of the lip.

The implant is tapered at the ends and is bulkier in the middle third of the lip and comes in different lengths to match the width of the lip and three different thicknesses (3mm, 4mm and 5mm, with 4mm being the most requested) to provide different lip projections.

Fillers vs implants

We offer a wide range of procedures at my practice, including the temporary dermal fillers, and I have found that there are some patients who are averse to the idea of putting something permanent in the lips, but there are a lot of women who really don’t enjoy the lip enhancement injections and are keen to find an alternative.

Patients do report that the injections are painful and the procedure has to be repeated so over a period of time it is considerably more expensive than the PermaLip.

Age-wise, I’ve found a wide range of patients request the PermaLip and, as long as there are no contraindications such as previous surgery, scarring or other health issues, it is suitable for everyone.

The other great thing about the PermaLip compared to the dermal fillers is that because the latter are temporary, people often get overfilled so initially you can end up with a ridiculous trout pout.

Also maintenance of a certain amount of enhancement can be hard to keep up over a long period of time. With PermaLip you instantly get the volume that you’re going to be and you maintain that perfect amount of volume permanently.

Permanent but reversible

From my point of view, as a plastic surgeon, the most important thing is that it is reversible. There have been attempts in the past at permanent fillers – silicone beads, which were injected into Leslie Ash, silicone gels, products based on other materials – and they have all been complete disasters.

So when I was first approached about PermaLip I was incredibly cautious about it, but the great advantage is that if you don’t like them, then it is the easiest thing in the world to remove them.

The procedure

It’s incredibly straightforward to do – it really is a walk-in walk-out procedure. First, we give a series of local anaesthetic injections in and around mouth to numb the lips.

The procedure itself takes just 20 minutes; a small cut is made in the corner of each lip and the implants inserted, before a small suture closes the incision. And that’s basically it.

The lip heals incredibly well so scarring is not an issue, but I do warn patients that they do swell very significantly for the first four or five days. After that the swelling goes down very rapidly and it is reported that within two weeks people have forgotten they’ve got them in.

The future of PermaLip

Over the last two years we’ve done about 50 to 60 cases and I have had no complaints from any of my patients.

I think that as it becomes better known, it will become more requested as women realise there is a safe, permanent solution to getting a beautiful and subtle lip enhancement.