Why Do Lips Thin With Age & What You Can Do

Author

Dr. Stephen Cosentino

Thinning lips is one of the subtler signs of aging. Lip volume declines with age, beginning in your 20s, but the process is very slow. It’s rarely noticeable to anyone but you, your partner, and perhaps your closest friends and relatives — not that they’d feel comfortable mentioning it.

But age-related lip thinning isn’t a figment of the imagination either. It’s real, and like all outward signs of aging, it can hinder your self-esteem and self-confidence. So it’s worth doing something about.

Why Do Lips Thin With Age?

Lips lose volume as part of the natural aging process. The mechanism is the same one responsible for other signs of aging on the face and neck: collagen loss.

Collagen is the scaffolding that binds and supports your many layers of skin. It’s responsible for cliches like “the fullness of youth” and “youthful glow” — the plump cheeks and lips we associate with youth are down to an abundance of collagen.

Natural collagen loss begins slowly in early adulthood and accelerates during your 30s and 40s, reaching a pace of about 1% per year. Certain behaviors and environmental factors may accelerate age-related collagen loss, including smoking, excessive unprotected sun exposure, and inflammation caused by poor diet or chronic illness. Because the lips have a smaller surface area than the cheeks and comparatively less collagen to begin with, even tiny changes in the amount and distribution of collagen can affect their appearance.

What Can You Do About Thinning Lips?

Even if you don’t have the best diet or use SPF lip balm whenever you venture outside, lip volume loss is unavoidable. There’s no shame in it — nor in taking steps to slow or reverse it. These strategies work for age-related lip thinning and for naturally thin lips at any age.

Practice Self-Care: Eating Right, Staying Hydrated

First, control your environment and honor your body as best you can. That means:

Drinking plenty of water — plumper skin is one of the many benefits of proper hydration
Avoiding prolonged sun exposure without SPF lip balm and sunscreen (and petroleum jelly when it’s really cold)
Moisturizing your lips and facial skin every day
Talking to your doctor or dietitian about dietary changes to reduce chronic inflammation
Quitting smoking, vaping, and tobacco use in general
Avoiding or moderating alcohol use

Makeup Techniques for Thin Lips

Next, learn the makeup and lip care techniques people have been using to fix thin, downturned lips for years:

Applying lip stain or gloss to “maximize” your lip line, making your lips look bigger than they are
Using lip balms or serums with hyaluronic acid, which temporarily adds volume to the lips
Strategically applying colored lipstick or stain to accentuate your natural lip shape

Lip Augmentation: Fillers and More

Finally, consider minimally invasive lip augmentation using temporary lip fillers.

Juvederm Ultra XC and Restylane Silk are common types of filler for adding volume to the lips. Both are hyaluronic acid fillers designed to leave lips looking full and natural. Results last 6 to 18 months, depending on dosing, anatomy, severity of initial volume loss, and other factors.

For longer-lasting results, use dermal fillers that stimulate collagen and elastin production in the deep layers of the skin. Radiesse is a popular choice. But do be sure to choose a cosmetic surgeon (or other board-certified medical professional) who has completed advanced lip filler training — these treatments are generally regarded as safe, but the likelihood of unpleasant side effects is higher with a less experienced provider.