Meghan Trainor has apparently had a less than ideal experience with Botox. She recently revealed that she has had difficulty smiling ever since she got a “lip flip” procedure, which is an increasingly popular nonsurgical treatment that aims to make the upper lip appear fuller.
During a recent episode of her podcast, “Workin’ On It,” the singer said that she “got too much Botox,” and that she “cannot smile anymore.”
“This is as big as I can smile,” she said in the video, while looking directly at the camera to demonstrate. She later added that her “face hurts to smile — to even try.”
Trainor, who explained elsewhere in the episode that she’s had positive experiences with getting Botox prior to her lip flip debacle, is a part of a seemingly growing number of people who have turned to the trendy lip flip cosmetic procedure in recent years.
Dr. Rosanne Paul, an assistant professor in the department of dermatology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, told HuffPost that she believes the lip flip procedure has boomed in popularity over the past year or two.
So, what exactly is a lip flip procedure? And is Trainor’s experience common? Read below to hear what experts have to say about the popular trend (and some important things to keep in mind if you’re considering getting Botox altogether).
What is a lip flip procedure?
The procedure is for those who want more “volume” in their upper lip, but may not want to get a product injected in their lips, such as lip filler, Paul explained.
“That’s where lip flip was developed,” she said.
When you get a lip flip, a provider injects Botox, or any other brand of a botulinum toxin, into the orbicularis oris muscle in your upper lip to prevent it from contracting.
“This is the muscle activated when you purse your lips or kiss,” said Allison Rojas, a board certified nurse practitioner in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Health. “The idea is, that by relaxing this muscle, the lips will evert and appear fuller, without the use of filler.”
“This procedure is an alternative to fillers, especially for people who want a fuller-appearing lip without actually increasing the volume of the lip itself,” added Dr. Eva R. Parker, an assistant professor of Dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Is struggling to smile a common side effect of the procedure?
It has not been shown to be a common side effect, and getting a lip flip, and Botox altogether, is considered to be generally safe. But the lip procedure can cause some temporary side effects with your smile for a number of reasons.
Dr. Sam Most, a professor of otolaryngology at Stanford Medicine, told HuffPost that while he doesn’t believe there’s yet been studies about the side effects of the lip flip procedure and one’s ability to smile normally, he would guess that it happens more commonly than side effects from Botox in areas like the eyelid — which he says happens “about 1% of the time.”
“I think it occurs more because it is a technically more challenging injection to do,” he said about the lip flip. “So I think the risks are higher.”
Most explained that while a provider is “injecting very minute amounts of Botox” when performing a lip flip, it’s possible the Botox could slightly spread, just as it could with injections done anywhere else on the body.
“If it spreads a little bit or if it’s not injected in exactly the right spot, then it will paralyze the muscle you did not intend it to paralyze,” he said, later adding, “around the mouth, the issue is that you can get the spread or inadvertent injection of muscles that you don’t intend it to go to, so that can affect your smile.”
Your smile could also be affected if you get too much Botox injected during the procedure.
“If too much is put in, I suppose that it would be hard to lift up the corners of your mouth and so it would be hard to smile,” Most said.
Dr. Shaun Desai, an associate professor of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, told HuffPost that it’s “not typical to lose the ability to smile normally with a lip flip procedure if done conservatively and in the right patient.”
But he said that “if the Botox is injected into the wrong part of the facial muscles or too much Botox is injected, it could potentially distort the smile.”
However, the good news is, as is the case with other Botox procedures, the effects of a lip flip are temporary.
“Botox is temporary. Injections into the lip generally last eight weeks,” Parker said. “That means complications such as asymmetry or excessive relaxation are not permanent and will resolve when the Botox wears off.”
The Cleveland Clinic states that the lip flip typically lasts between two to five months. So if you’re not happy with the results of the cosmetic procedure — as was the case with Trainor — you can rest assured that the effects of Botox are supposed to eventually fade.
Who is not a good candidate for Botox?
For starters, Paul said that people who previously experienced a bad side effect from Botox should consider not getting it again in the future. Additionally, she would not recommend Botox to people with certain muscular and autoimmune disorders, such as Lambert-Eaton syndrome, in which the immune system attacks the areas where your nerves and muscles connect, or Myasthenia gravis, which causes skeletal muscle weakness.
Possible side effects from getting Botox in general include pain, swelling or bruising at the injection site, headache, neck pain, flu-like symptoms, upset stomach, eye irritation and temporary drooping eyelids (ptosis), according to the Cleveland Clinic, which also states Botox is not recommended for those who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
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Paul added that “spock brow,” or an exaggerated raised eyebrow, is another potential side effect of Botox.
“Some people naturally have facial asymmetry so the main risk there would be that you would have abnormal elevation of the eyebrow,” she said, adding that people can also experience heaviness of their eyelid as a possible side effect.
“The biggest risk is being unhappy with the cosmetic appearance after injection,” Desai added.
So, if you’re thinking about getting a lip flip procedure, or any Botox treatment, Parker emphasized that it’s “essential to have cosmetic procedures performed by experienced and trained injectors who are qualified and licensed to administer such treatments.”
As always, discuss any concerns or questions you may have with your doctor.