In order to broaden the red of the lips, a strip of skin is removed along the vermilion border of the lips or at the transition between the upper lip and the nose and, by suturing the incision, the red area of the lips is enlarged. This procedure is carried out under local anaesthetic and as an out-patient. This method allows the shape of the lips to be altered with fine precision, although natural scars are created, which then have to be carefully treated in order to attain an aesthetic scar formation. However, as a rule the scars are so well concealed that they are not noticeable.

A less invasive operative method is the injection of autologous fat in order to increase the volume of the lips. This intervention must also be carried out under highly sterile conditions in an operating theatre and has the advantage that the lips are augmented (enlarged) using tissue from the patient’s own body. The disadvantage is that the fatty tissue must first be aspirated and prepared and the injected fat may be reabsorbed to varying degrees, which can result in asymmetry in the long-term.