Patient education
Smile Lines: Causes and Options
Written for someone deciding about their own face rather than studying the subject. If you read only one guide, read the second, because the mixture of movement, volume and descent explains why a crease treated on its own so often looks right for a few months and then returns.
All guides
10 guides
- What Patients Mean by Smile LinesPatient language
- Three Causes in One Fold: Movement, Volume and DescentCauses
- The Line Only You See When You SmileDeciding
- How Smile Lines Are AssessedAssessment
- Why Filling the Fold Itself Often DisappointsLimits
- Injectables Near the Mouth and the Risk to Your SmileRisks
- Volume Restoration Works Best Before Descent Sets InDeciding
- Devices and Threads in the Mid-Face: What They ReachAlternatives
- When the Answer Is a Lift, and What It ChangesSurgery
- When Not to Treat Smile LinesDeciding
Start with whether the line is there at rest
Arrange an assessment. We look at the fold in repose and on smiling, work out how much of it is movement, how much is cheek volume and how much is descent, and say plainly which options would change it and which would not.