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The Latest in Lip Fillers

The FDA has just approved a treatment with results that last

America is obsessed with lips. Just ask the hoards plump pout admirers who couldn’t get their hands on one of the coveted Kylie Jenner Lip Kits because they sold out in less than 10 minutes. Luckily for those looking for a more permanent fix than gloss, there are injectable lip fillers. By structuring, shaping and addressing volume, fillers have become dermatology’s answer to less-than-average lips, and now there’s a new (FDA-approved) filler on the block: Juvéderm Volbella XC. 

Dr. Joshua Zeichner, MD, FAAD, the Director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in Dermatology and an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, breaks down the newly approved treatment. “The trend over the last couple of years has been to develop specialized fillers that are optimized to treat different parts of the face, and Volbella was engineered specifically for this part of the body,” Dr. Zeichner explains, “It has several different forms of hyaluronic acid in the product itself, or hyaluronic of different molecular weights. So rather than it being a very dense product, it has more of a smooth, silky feeling because of the low density, and that adds to the natural aesthetic in the lip and around the mouth.” 

The reason why our lips create a wrinkled effect as we age—other than “kissy faces” in selfies and drinking from straws—is because the skin around them is not strong enough to bounce back. Formulated with Vycross, Volbella treats the lip’s volume and area surrounding the lips. The real kicker, though, is that it has been proven to last an entire year, which is double the lasting power of current fillers. 

As with any procedure, immediate discomfort and swelling may follow, but Dr. Zeichner says that side effects usually disappear within two weeks, also noting this window as the appropriate time to wait for a second injection. “Slow and steady wins the race,” he advises.

The average price of Juvéderm Volbella XC is $575 per injection, and will become available in October 2016.

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