In short
- What it does is geometric, not volumetric: a band of skin below the nose is removed and the lip rises. Whatever volume you have is the volume you keep.
- 🔑 It has been measured. A 2026 systematic review covering 1,754 patients records that the philtrum went from 14.0–14.5 mm to 10.8–12.0 mm, the height of the red lip from 5.0–6.0 mm to 7.0–9.0 mm and visible tooth at rest from 1.5–2.0 mm to 3.5–5.0 mm.
- Published satisfaction is high: an average of 4.4 out of 5 on the scale used to rate overall improvement.
- And revision rates are low: between 0.6% and 6.7% depending on the series.
- ⚠️ There is always a scar. It is hidden in the crease at the base of the nose and in most cases tends to blend in over the months. Anyone promising a “scarless” lip lift is promising something that does not exist.
- ⚠️ And it is what weighs most with the minority who are not happy: when someone regrets the operation, the scar is usually part of the reason. The figures above say how many; this says what troubles them.
- It is done under local anaesthetic as a day case, with no hospital stay.
- And it is not the only review that has looked at it. A second systematic review, published in 2023 in a plastic surgery journal, concludes independently that surgery lasts longer than the non-surgical alternatives — with an unavoidable scar — and that reported satisfaction was good, with no serious complaints.
- ⚠️ Even so, the evidence is good but not vast: seven studies in the most complete review, “moderate” methodological quality and no meta-analysis possible because they differ so much from one another.
The lip lift — or upper lip lift — is a small operation that does one very specific thing: shorten the distance between the base of the nose and the edge of the lip. By trimming that stretch of skin, the red lip rolls outwards, more of it shows and the tooth appears again when you speak and smile.
It does not add volume. It is not a filler. And it is not the same as any of the things it gets confused with.
⚠️ A necessary clarification before going on. On this website, “labiaplasty” refers to intimate surgery, which has nothing to do with this. The upper lip lift is also called cheiloplasty in some practices. Here we call it a lip lift, which is how almost everyone looks for it.
Real results: lip lift
Real patients who have given written consent to publication. Results vary from person to person and no surgery can guarantee them.
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What it is exactly and what it corrects
With age — and in many people through genetics too, with no age involved — three things happen to the upper lip at once:
- The philtrum lengthens. The stretch of skin between the nose and the lip is drawn out. It is what makes the area look “long” or flat.
- The vermilion thins. The red part rolls inwards and shows less, even though the lip has not lost any tissue.
- The tooth stops showing. At rest, a young upper lip lets a few millimetres of incisor show. When the lip lengthens, it covers them.
The lip lift acts on the first and, in doing so, corrects the other two: by shortening the skin, the red border everts and the tooth shows again. That is why all three measurements change at once, and why the studies measure them together.
The people who come in about this tend to fall into three groups, and it is worth recognising yourself:
- Those who notice that their lip disappears when they smile and that their teeth no longer show when they speak.
- Those who have always had a long philtrum, with age having nothing to do with it: it is a constitutional proportion.
- Those who have had years of filler and have a lip with volume but just as low — because filler does not shorten the distance.
What it does NOT correct
This is the part that prevents most disappointment, and almost no page includes it.
| What you want | Does a lip lift do it? |
|---|---|
| More red lip to show | Yes — that is exactly what it does |
| The lip to have more volume | No. The volume does not change; how much of it shows does |
| Removing the vertical lines above the lip (the “barcode”) | No. Those need something else |
| Lifting drooping corners | No on its own — that is a different operation |
| Correcting a gummy smile | No: it can make it worse. Raising the lip shows more gum |
🚨 The last point is the most important on this page. A lip lift increases dental and gingival exposure. In someone who already shows a lot of gum when they smile, it may be inadvisable. That is an assessment that can only be made in consultation, looking at how you smile.
What the operation involves
It is a day-case operation under local anaesthetic, which takes around an hour. You walk in and walk out the same day, with no hospital stay.
✅ And there is an alternative if the idea of being awake worries you: at the patient’s request, or in cases of marked anxiety, it can be combined with sedation or done under general anaesthetic. What changes then is the pre-operative work-up — blood tests, an ECG and an assessment by the anaesthetist. The full pathway is in the lip lift step by step.
The usual technique is the subnasal one, known as the “bullhorn” because of the bull’s-horn shape of the marking: the incision is traced along the crease where the nose meets the lip, a band of skin calculated for your case is removed and it is closed in layers.
🔑 And one consequence of that short hour is worth underlining: it is a short operation, and so it can be added to another without adding much theatre time. It is covered in the combined lip lift.
The scar, briefly and without embellishment
There is a scar. Always. It is hidden in the crease at the base of the nose and, in most cases, tends to blend in over the months. That is the honest way to put it and it is what you will find on this site.
What is worth knowing from the outset:
- It is visible during the first few weeks. Red, marked and in a place that cannot be covered with your hair.
- It matures slowly, like any facial scar, and the result that counts is not the one at one month.
- It is what weighs most when someone is not happy. That happens in a minority — revision rates run from 0.6% to 6.7% — but when it does, the scar is usually part of the reason.
🔑 If that scar strikes you as an unacceptable price, this operation is not for you — and that is a legitimate conclusion, not a failure. All the detail, the month-by-month course and the aftercare are in the lip lift scar.
Who is a good candidate
Briefly, and set out in full in who is a candidate and who is not:
It suits someone with a long philtrum in relation to the rest of their face, little visible red lip, barely any tooth showing at rest, and who accepts the scar.
It suits badly someone whose aim is volume — that is a filler —, someone whose philtrum is short to begin with, and anyone expecting this to change their face. And with a marked gummy smile, it is advised against here — although it can be done if the limitations are properly understood, because this operation increases the amount of gum on show.
What is measured in consultation is the length of the philtrum — but the figure alone does not decide: it is weighed against the proportions of your face. There are long faces in which an elongated philtrum still looks harmonious, and faces in which a minimal lengthening is very noticeable.
🔑 That is why there is no published millimetre threshold here: each person’s harmony governs. And it is why the assessment is done in person and with the face in movement.
Results: what the figures say
The figures that exist come from a systematic review published in 2026 that brought together seven studies and 1,754 patients operated on between 2017 and 2025.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Philtrum length | 14.0–14.5 mm | 10.8–12.0 mm |
| Height of the red lip | 5.0–6.0 mm | 7.0–9.0 mm |
| Upper tooth visible at rest | 1.5–2.0 mm | 3.5–5.0 mm |
And on satisfaction and problems: an average of 4.4 out of 5 on the global improvement scale, complications “predominantly mild and transient” and revision rates between 0.6% and 6.7%.
⚠️ How that table should be read. Those ranges are not “your before and your after”: they are the range of the means of seven different studies. And the authors themselves warn of two things: the methodological quality of the set is moderate, and they could not carry out a meta-analysis because the studies were too heterogeneous. It is the best evidence available, and it can be bettered.
On how long it lasts: the skin removed does not come back. But ageing continues, and the result is subject to how each person changes over time. It is set out in results and duration.
Guide price
At ICPM, a lip lift costs between 1,900 and 2,400 €.
And that figure includes everything, which is the part almost nobody publishes:
| What it includes |
|---|
| VAT. The price you see is the price you pay |
| The operating theatre |
| Removal of the sutures |
| Follow-up appointments for a year — at 7 days, one month, 3 months, 6 months and one year |
| The operation performed by plastic surgeons, specialists in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery with specific experience in this procedure |
🔑 And this matters more than the figure itself. A lower price that leaves out the theatre, the follow-up or the VAT is not a lower price: it is a different quotation. Comparing numbers without comparing what is inside them is the most expensive mistake in the whole process.
What puts a case at one end of the range or the other is complexity, and that complexity has two sources: your anatomy and your goal. A deliberately subtle change is not the same as a more noticeable one, and both are done — the surgery is adapted to the result you are after, not the other way round.
The figure for your case comes out of the assessment and is given in writing — a quotation given over the phone or from a photograph is not a quotation.
And this is what is worth checking in any quotation, wherever it comes from:
- What it includes: the surgeon’s fees, the theatre, follow-up appointments and removal of the sutures.
- VAT. Purely aesthetic surgery carries 21%. A price without VAT is not the price.
- Who operates. That they are a specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, and that you can check their registration number.
- That it is in writing and after an in-person assessment.
⚠️ And a warning sign: discounts, limited places, promotions and time-limited offers have no place in a surgical procedure.
Book an appointment
You can book your own appointment. Pick the day and time from the free slots in the diary, in a panel that opens right here, without leaving this page.
Frequently asked questions
Does it hurt?
It is not a painful procedure, and it is worth saying so plainly because it is one of the worries that holds people back most.
During the operation you feel no pain: it is under local anaesthetic. Afterwards, the usual discomfort is tightness and swelling rather than sharp pain, and the pain relief your surgeon prescribes is usually enough to cover it.
Will people be able to tell I have had surgery?
What shows, if anything, is the scar during the first few months. A well-planned result aims for the lip to look like yours, not someone else’s. What usually gives a lip lift away is not the scar but having lifted too much: an excessively short lip, with too much tooth and too much gum, is a result that is hard to undo.
How long does the result last?
The skin removed does not grow back. But ageing does not stop and the lip goes on changing over the years, so “permanent” is not the same as “unchanging”. Nobody can guarantee you a result twenty years on.
Is it the same as lip filler?
No, and it is the most common confusion. Filler adds volume; a lip lift shortens the distance. They are two different problems and sometimes the right answer is one, sometimes the other and sometimes both. It is compared in detail in lip lift or hyaluronic acid.
What if I have had filler for years?
It is an increasingly common profile: a lip with volume but just as long, because the filler never shortened anything. It has its own page: after years of filler.
Can it be done together with a rhinoplasty?
Yes, and it is a combination described in the literature: they share the area at the base of the nose. It is covered in the combined lip lift. Our rhinoplasty page covers the nose on its own.
Will it get rid of the lines above my lip?
No. The vertical lines above the upper lip — the “barcode” — are a problem of the quality of the skin, not of its length, and they are not corrected by stretching it. It is explained in the barcode above the upper lip.
When can I go back to work?
It depends on the job, and the difference is considerable:
| Type of work | When |
|---|---|
| Office work | From the day after the operation |
| Physical work, or work requiring a lot of talking — moving the mouth and lips | After the sutures come out, at around 7 days |
🔑 The reason in the second case is not the effort: it is the tension on the suture. An area that moves when you talk is better not put to work while the wound is closing.
In any case, it is your surgeon who advises on the timing, because it also depends on how healing is going. And ⚠️ what usually weighs on the decision is not physical recovery but the fact that the scar is somewhere visible and shows in the first few weeks. It is covered in recovery after a lip lift.
Can it be undone?
Badly. What is removed is not put back, so a lip that has been lifted too far is a difficult problem to solve. It is why, in this operation, conservative beats ambitious, and why the assessment beforehand matters more than the technique.
Sources
- Komisarek O, Banasiak Ł, Olichwer V, Burduk P. The Bullhorn and Beyond: Evidence-Based Review and Clinical Recommendations for Lip Lift Techniques. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2026. PMID 41731334. — Systematic review following PRISMA 2020, registered with PROSPERO (CRD420251232005); 7 studies and 1,754 patients published between 2017 and 2025; subnasal bullhorn techniques and their modifications reduced philtrum length from 14.0–14.5 mm to 10.8–12.0 mm, increased vermilion height from 5.0–6.0 mm to 7.0–9.0 mm and upper incisor show from 1.5–2.0 mm to 3.5–5.0 mm; mean GAIS satisfaction 4.4/5; complications predominantly mild and transient with revision rates of 0.6% to 6.7%; overall methodological quality moderate and meta-analysis not feasible because of heterogeneity.
- Zhao H, Wang X, Qiao Z, Yang K. Different Techniques and Quantitative Measurements in Upper Lip Lift: A Systematic Review. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2023;47:1364-1376. PMID 36856780. — PRISMA systematic review published in a plastic surgery journal; of 495 studies screened, 9 were included, eight of surgical techniques and one of a non-surgical technique. The surgical techniques show a longer-lasting effect than the non-surgical ones, with an unavoidable scar; reported satisfaction was good in both groups, with no serious complaints; and the authors note a lack of consistency in the measurements used to assess how effective the lift is, and call for a uniform quantitative assessment. Level of evidence III.
- Hayat J, Alfadhly A, Jafar AB. Patient-Reported Dissatisfaction After Lip Lift: Insights From a Thematic Analysis of RealSelf Reviews. Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum, 2025. PMID 41230113. — Qualitative thematic analysis of 25 public accounts by patients dissatisfied after a lip lift; scar-related concerns were the most frequent (15 of 25, 60%), followed by nasal or alar distortion (6) and lip asymmetry (5).
- Sun F, Liu Y, Zhang T. Aging of the Human Lip: Current Knowledge and Clinical Implications. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2025. PMID 40735924. — A review of lip ageing; the ageing characteristics of the lip differ from those of facial skin because of its barrier function, melanin content, absorption capacity, physiological activity and fat distribution, and there are differences between the sexes in how it shows.
Book your consultation
If you recognise yourself in the above, the next step is an in-person assessment: in this operation the measurements are taken with the person in front of you and smiling, because what decides the indication is not how the lip sits at rest but what happens when it moves. No urgency and no offers: a consultation to find out whether this is for you, and the answer may well be no.
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Last reviewed: 6 September 2026. This content is for information only and does not replace an individual assessment by a healthcare professional.
