Tips for Lips and Mouth: cheap ways to get rid of upper lip wrinkles and vertical lines

by: Linda Robison / Facial Fitness Specialist @ ABZ

We'll show you 3 skin smoothing tips for lip wrinkles and mouth lines without breaking the bank.

Lip wrinkles and vertical lines above and below the mouth can make you feel self-conscious and older, regardless of your age. Personally, I know that feeling!

Woman squeezing her mouth, creating lip wrinkles.

When I first noticed those tiny vertical lines above my lips - that’s all I could think of - and that’s all I saw when I looked in the mirror!

However, there are a few simple ways to smooth-out the mouth area without spending a lot of money on surgery, procedures, or expensive face creams. 

Please note: It’s crucial to address lip wrinkles as soon as you notice them. The longer you wait, the less effective treatments will be.

While these treatments can work for both women and men, women seem to be more prone to mouth wrinkles for a variety of reasons discussed below. 

Let's look at these simple tips for lip and mouth wrinkles:

1. Mouth massage:

Increase circulation and moisture to the upper and lower lips.

The skin tissue around a woman’s mouth contains fewer blood vessels and sebaceous glands (sebaceous glands help keep skin lubricated and moist).

Researchers concluded that having more sebaceous glands is just one of multiple factors that helps keep wrinkles from becoming deeper. They also suspect this is why women are more prone to mouth wrinkles than men. 1,2

Massaging the skin can stimulate sebaceous glands, causing an increase in sebum production (moisture). It also helps increase circulation bringing nutrient-rich blood flow to the skin - all which can slow wrinkle formation. 3

Try to perform the following massage a few times a week:

Carolyn from Facial Fitness showing how to massage lips for fewer wrinkles
  • Looking in the mirror, rest your middle and index fingertips from both hands lightly on the top of your lips. 
  • Place thumbs together resting under your chin for support.
  • Firmly wrap your upper lip down over your top teeth. 
  • Then slide your fingers down to the corners of your mouth while counting to 5.
  • Repeat 10 times.

Now repeat the same moves on the bottom lips:

Carolyn from Facial Fitness showing step 2 on how to massage lips for fewer wrinkles.Lip massage courtesy of Carolyn's Facial Fitness. See more sample exercises here.
  • Rest your middle and index fingertips lightly on bottom lips, while thumbs rest together under your chin.
  • Curl your bottom lip up and over your bottom teeth. Then slide your fingers across the lips out towards the corner of your mouth while counting to 5.
  • Repeat 10 times

2. Face and mouth exercises:

The orbital muscles of the mouth are much closer to the skin in women than in men. Researchers suspect this could cause skin wrinkling as the muscles pull the delicate thin skin down and inward creating deeper more pronounced wrinkles.

Exercising the face and mouth helps to firm underlying muscles, rejuvenate connective tissues, and builds muscle fiber. This can result in smoother skin since the skin is tightly draped across the muscle and takes on its shape.

In fact, Dr. Frederick Rossiter, M.D* refers to face muscles as “skin muscles” because the muscles in the face are so closely connected with the skin.

Why not just exercise the lip and mouth area?

CFF Facial Muscle Chart.

So why not just exercise the mouth area only? For best results, you should exercise all 57 muscles of the face because they are all interconnected. This will ensure you’ll get a beautiful and balanced look.

Also, concentrating on just one area of the face can cause an over-build of the muscle, which can look odd. This is especially true of the lips and mouth area.

Don’t worry, these exercises only take a few minutes to do and are worth the little bit of effort for smoother, firmer-looking lips, mouth and face.

Which exercises are best?

There are plenty of facial exercise programs available. And, while I'm sure many of them are good, I found a few to be either too aggressive (caused a bulky over-built look), too simple (no results), or too time consuming.

The exercise workout I use (and recommend) is Carolyn's’ Facial Fitness.

Of the 28 exercises in her program, almost all of them incorporate a massage technique (which is so healthy for your skin) and 5 exercises are dedicated to strengthening and smoothing wrinkles and lines all around the lip and mouth area:

You can read more about them here at this link. 

If you purchase her workout kit you'll get colored photos and hand placements of each exercise and a DVD showing exactly how to perform each workout. Don't worry, the whole workout only takes a few minutes to complete once you've learned the process.

Bonus: In addition to smoothing out upper lip wrinkles and vertical mouth lines - you'll also notice smoother skin from from your forehead to your neck!

3. Exfoliate

Bowl of sugar mixed with face oil.

Exfoliate to reveal smoother looking skin and remove dead skin cells. As you massage, stimulate and exercise the lips and mouth area, new fresh cells will replace old skin cells.

The fastest way to see results is to help your body turn those cells over.

As we age, cellular turnover slows down, but you can speed this process up by manually removing (exfoliating) dead skin cells. 

There are a few ways to do this:

  • Alternatively, if you’re looking for something more powerful (yet still perfect for sensitive skin) consider trying professionally formulated exfoliating products like fruit acids which contain unbuffered lactic acid. Lactic acid is a great way to exfoliate dry, sensitive or mature skin. Other acids are great - but can be drying for skin over 50. 

Click on link below to learn how fruit acids can help exfoliate lines and wrinkles.

Theraderm Fruit Lactic Acid Skin Exfoliator

Final tip for smoothing upper lip wrinkles and vertical lip lines

Make these tips for lip wrinkles a weekly habit for best results.

The massage and exercises should be done on weekly basis to see results. Once you've achieved your goal, you only need to do these 1-2 times a week for maintenance.

It only takes a few minutes per session, but trust me, it's worth the effort.

Also, try to apply a hydrating plumping serum in the morning and before bed to smooth out lip lines and wrinkles.


I wear City Lips day and night and love its thick velvety cushiony feel.

City Lips Plumping Lip Gloss

So nice to wear lipstick again

Imagine how nice it would be to wear your favorite lipstick without feeling self-conscious about upper lip lines or wrinkles?

Speaking of lipstick, you can also make your own natural, healing lip balm to help keep the lips healthy and smooth.

Click here Anti-Aging Lip Balm Recipe to learn how. It's easy and fun!

Moreover, as a bonus, by performing the face workout, you'll see smoother skin and a more lifted face and neck too! Don’t believe it works? Check out my before and after pictures.

Reference:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26133537

2. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/mouth-area-wrinkles-women-men/story?

3. Salvo, Susan G. Massage Therapy: Principles and Practice. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1999: 91.

* Dr. Frederick M. Rossiter, M.D. is a professor of anatomy and physiology



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