There’s a lot you can do to prevent wrinkles; wearing sunscreen, avoiding smoking and using a rich moisturizer can all help keep the signs of aging away. But despite your best efforts, there’s a good chance that your wrinkles will catch up with you sooner or later–and when they do, there are several methods you can use to keep them from making you look older.
Massage
Giving your mouth a daily massage may help prevent wrinkles from forming and make the ones you already have less noticeable, Gunilla Eisenberg, facialist and owner of San Francisco-based Gunilla Skin Butik, says in Spa magazine. Eisenberg suggests using your ring fingers to massage the skin around your mouth, starting below your lower lip and moving toward the corners of your mouth before massaging above your upper lip.
Exfoliate and Hydrate
Christine Rodgers, M.D., Denver-based plastic surgeon, recommends regular exfoliation as a treatment for wrinkles around the mouth in More magazine. According to Rodgers, gentle exfoliators–look for versions with AHAs or fine grains in them–help keep your skin from getting too dry, making fine lines and wrinkles less noticeable. Follow exfoliation with a cream or serum that packs a hydrating punch to restore moisture and plump up skin cells around your mouth to hide wrinkles there.
Fillers
The lines around your mouth are caused by tissue loss beneath the surface of your skin, so injecting filler to plump up depleted tissue can make wrinkles temporarily vanish, according to New Orleans-based dermatologist Mary Lupo, M.D., in a 2009 O Magazine article. According to Lupo, these fillers are usually most effective when they’re injected in your cheeks, since tissue loss there is what contributes to deep wrinkles around your mouth, especially in the corners.
Laser Resurfacing
For serious wrinkles, Lupo says she recommends laser resurfacing. Depending on your age and the severity of your wrinkles, you can choose between less invasive nonablative laser resurfacing, which doesn’t remove the surface layers of the skin, or more intensive ablative treatments, which strip away the superficial layer of skin. Both procedures require recovery time; recovery from nonablative treatments takes about three days, and that from ablative treatments takes up to 10 days. They can be painful, but they significantly reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles around the mouth.
About this Author
Holly Roberts is an award-winning health and fitness writer whose work has appeared in health, lifestyle and fitness magazines. Roberts has also worked as an editor for health association publications and medical journals. She has been a professional writer for more than 10 years and holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in literature.
