The short answer to that question is maybe. The reason I say this is that fat grafting to the lip can be somewhat unreliable in that in some areas it may provide a suitable place for the fat to be viable and survive long term and in other areas, the fat will essentially dissipate and be lost. This can therefore lead to some irregularities to the lip when aggressive fat grafting is performed. The upside is that when performed appropriately and judiciously, patients can get a mild augmentation that is not only natural appearing, but can also be very long term. I there recommend that if a patient is going to be undergoing fat grafting on other areas of the face and they desire augmentation of their lips, that we go ahead and perform this procedure, but I do not typically recommend fat grafting to the lips if the patient’s only desire it so have fuller lips. I would then recommend hyaluronic acid fillers such as Restylane and Juvéderm as these are extraordinarily reliable, the procedure is relatively simple to perform, it is extremely consistent, and the only downside is that it is unfortunately a temporary solution to the problem.
Is lip augmentation via fat grafting a permanent solution?
