Full and voluptuous lips are all the craze these days, and why shouldn’t they be? Your lips convey so much – showing your approval or disdain – lips can say it all! But as many people have noticed, as they get older, the fullness of their lips starts to reduce. But why does this happen? And what can be done to reverse this? Read this entire article to find out all you need to know about thinning lips!
Correlation Between Thin Lips And Aging
Before we get into the correlation between thin lips and ageing, let’s first break down our understanding of collagen. What is it, and how does it affect us? Essentially, collagen is a protein that is the building block of bones, skin, muscles and tissues. Our body is constantly producing collagen, but as we grow older, the amount of collagen produced by our body keeps decreasing. So in our youth, our body is at its peak of collagen production. When we start to hit our 30s, our collagen levels begin to dwindle. Every year after the age of 30, it is said that our collagen production falls by 2%. So you can only imagine the depletion in collagen when we hit our 50s and 60s.
What Is The Reason Behind Lips Thinning?
2% seems like a slight decrease, but it adds up over time! This causes not just thinning lips but also wrinkles and saggy skin in all sorts of places. With age, our lips lose their definition, their fullness, and become way thinner than they were before. It is best to take steps now so that you can keep your youthful glow longer – collagen keeps our skin young and supple so adding extra collagen to keep up with the loss is a great idea!
Common Causes Of Thinning Lips
While the decrease in collagen production is one main cause for thinning lips, there are some other causes too, like:
- Exposing your lips to the sun a lot. If you must go out in the sun, put on lip balm or gloss, which has some SPF to protect the delicate skin of your lips.
- Get tested for your B12 levels. Low B12 levels in your body can cause dry and chapped lips, eventually leading to thinning of lips in the future.
- You might also not be drinking enough water. Trust us – hydrating generously can solve a lot of problems! If your lips are well hydrated, then they also tend to look fuller.
- Any type of oxidative stress can trigger the process of collagen reduction. So eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and try to detox your body every once in a while. A healthy inside reflects a healthy outside!
How Does The Environment Play A Role In This?
Constant environmental damage has resulted in massive gaping holes in our atmosphere which protects us from harmful UV rays. Now, these rays are able to come in direct contact with our skin and can cause a variety of skin damage, from dry skin to skin cancer. Believe it or not, these UV rays can also contribute to thinning lips.
How Can You Make Thin Lips Appear Fuller?
While you can take precautions to keep your youthful, plump lips, there are also some ways to navigate the problem of lips thinning from age:
- Use makeup – a safe and temporary way to make your lips look fuller. You can experiment with shades, but we have noticed that matte lipsticks usually do the trick. You can also use a lip liner and draw slightly outside of your natural lip line.
- Use dermal fillers – dermal fillers or soft tissue fillers smoothen out the skin and boost collagen production. On average, one session can last up to 6-12 months. Dermal filler is also referred to as lip augmentation or lip fillers.
- Exfoliate your lips – gently scrubbing your lips and then applying a natural lip balm will promote blood circulation, making your lips appear plumper than usual. This will, however, only last for a couple of hours.
- Use a lip plumping gloss – these lip glosses contain ingredients like peppermint, and cayenne pepper, which cause a tingling sensation and result in your lips looking fuller. This is also only a temporary solution.
- Give yourself regular lip massages – there are many Youtube videos for this specific type of massage. Try it out for yourself!
Can Dermal Fillers Help With Thinning Lips?
YES! Dermal fillers not only help ageing lips gain back their shape and prominent outline, but in fact, dermal fillers these days also contain hyaluronic acid, which carries about 1,000 times its weight in water, giving your lips a plumper and fuller look. Dermal fillers also work on boosting your collagen production – hence this is a treatment that is longer lasting than all the other treatments available.
Additional Read – Common questions about dysport and dermal filler injectables