BY: TIMOTHY NEAVIN, MD

Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson - modern day Hollywood sex symbols sporting the epitome of the luscious lip ideal. Pouty, soft, sensual, and so kissable! But why are we so fascinated and attracted to a full pair of lips, anyway?

Sure, lip mania is fueled by the media's obsession with the Hollywood elite's puckering stars. But the truth is, it's probably not just a fad. Men are mentally programmed to find big, beautiful lips attractive, alluring, and sexy. The tempting allure of big, bold, and beautiful lips is nothing new - Ancient Egyptian Women were known to wear lipstick to accentuate and redden their lips. So why on earth are we humans so preoccupied with those pinkish puckers that outline our mouth, anyway?

In pure Darwinian terms, a woman's lips are a visible expression of her reproductive capacity, according to the sexual selection hypothesis proposed by many sociobiologists and leading expert in the field, Dr. Leslie Farkas. As described in Anthropometric Facial Proportions in Medicine, Dr. Farkas proposes that a woman's facial and sexual attractiveness is closely linked to the levels and type of sexual hormones present during puberty and sexual development. A woman's estrogen levels serve to promote fertility and maintain a youthful facial structure during her adolescent years. That is, lips are not only viewed as a symbol for sensuality and sexuality, they're also an unconscious marker for fertility!

In developmental terms, the more estrogen a woman has, the larger her eyes, the smaller the nose, and the fuller her lips - all features which are often perceived as attractive according to an interesting study examining human facial beauty from the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery a few years ago. Lip fullness also parallels the estrogen dependent fat deposits on the hips and breasts. In women, lip fullness often peaks during the late teenage years and its fullness fades with age.

Women who augment their lips through the use of lipstick or lip enhancement fillers such as Restylane^TM take advantage of a man's inborn, subconscious linking of full female lips and increased female fertility. Everyday, men are being fooled into thinking that these women have higher levels of estrogen and therefore a higher level of fertility, at least on a subconscious level.

Of course, the hallmark of a beautiful lip is its fullness, its ability to pout, the definition between lip border and lip body, and the youthful curl as it takes off from the nose. Unfortunately, Aging causes the lip to lose many of these features as it thins and elongates - eventually completely covering the upper teeth at rest.

According to the American Society of Aethictic Plastic Surgeons, the number of cosmetic procedures performed in the United States has surged by 457% in the last ten years to more than 11.6 million in 2007. One of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures is lip enhancement through the injection of a wide variety of safe and affordable injectable dermal fillers.

The primary goal of most lip enhancements with injectables is to amplify the fullness in the middle two thirds of the upper and lower lip, to raise the lip border to restore the curl of youth, and to redefine the small divot in the middle of the upper lip, called cupid's bow. Lip enhancement ranges from the simple cosmetic use of strategic lipstick application to over-outline the lip and lip ‘plumpers' (some of which work for short periods of time and some which just gloss). A longer term solution is the surgical enhancement of the lip through various methods. There are injections with temporary fillers using either collagen or hyaluronic acid based products such as Restylane®, Juvederm^TM, or Perlane®.

Collagen typically comes from animal sources and therefore requires testing for possible allergies before use. Although it may be more affordable than hyaluronic acid fillers, it only lasts for a few months.

Hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance found in the skin, does not require any allergy testing and lasts longer than collagen. This gives the hyaluronic acid based products an advantage over their collagen competitors. For both types of products, patients see immediate and effective results.

Most of the commercially available hyaluronic acid fillers last anywhere from four to six months when injected into the lip. They are considered to be generally safe, and well tolerated by most patients. Although every lip is different, most lip injections require 1 to 2 syringes of product and can be performed in an outpatient setting in less than an hour. Hyaluronic acid products are effective, long lasting, beautifying, and safe when administered by a skilled trained professional with knowledge in the aesthetic components of the lip.

So whether you believe in the evolutionary theory of human lip attractiveness or not, make no mistake, big, beautiful lips aren't just the latest fad. History tells us that Cleopatra wore luscious red lipstick when she seduced Julius Caesar. So, if we humans have been fascinated with lips for 2000 years, it's probably safe to say we will be attracted to full, luscious lips well into the future.

For a very informative site to learn more about the injectable dermal filler products mentioned in this article, visit www.injectablesafety.org.

Timothy Neavin is a plastic surgeon and Director of Artisan of
Beauty Plastic Surgery, in Beverly Hills, California. He has written
and lectured nationally on the topics of plastic surgery's influence on one's sex life, body sculpturing, and lectured nationally on the topic of injectables, and the safety of outpatient surgery.

For more information on Dr. Neavin, visit:

ARTISANofBEAUTY.com

P: 310.858.8811
9615 Brighton Way, Suite 303
Beverly Hills, California, 90210