Marionette lines and nasolabial folds – Treat them with injectables!

Sadly, getting older will always mean a loss of collagen. This is why it’s so important that we do as much as we can to preserve what we have and stimulate more of it. Still, despite our best efforts, our skin will eventually droop and our lower face loses definition. At first, you might see the formation of lines. Nasolabial lines run from the side of your nose down towards the corner of your mouth. Later, as your skin loses volume due to collagen loss, these lines will deepen. The skin just above it, as it droops, will hang ever so slightly over the line to form what’s known as nasolabial folds.

Then you get marionette lines. These run from the corners of your mouth down towards your chin, creating a “puppet mouth” effect. Aside from making us look older than we have to, they can also give us a grumpy, sad appearance, regardless of what we’re actually feeling.

The good news about marionette lines

While all that sounds rather depressing, there is good news. In the past, if you developed these type of lines there wasn’t too much you could do about it aside from a traditional facelift. This pulls up the skin to minimise sagging in the lower face but comes with a long list of risks. Also, it’s the kind of thing you’d only want to do once the sagging became very pronounced, so you’d have to spend a long time with a look that gets you down. Now, however, it’s entirely possible to dramatically improve the look of both nasolabial lines and folds as well as marionette lines using cleverly placed dermal filler.

The MD Codes difference

Dr Mauricio de Maio is one of the world’s most famous plastic surgeons. Known for creating the “liquid facelift”, his technique involves using strategically placed muscle-relaxing injections and dermal fillers in such a strategic way it creates a knife-free lift.

Now, two decades later, his latest innovation is the MD Codes™. A finite guide for a series of injection points based on a much deeper understanding of facial anatomy, the MD Codes technique doesn’t just treat the current signs of ageing but can act preventively too. It also takes your entire face into account, knowing that how you treat one area can have a knock-on effect on another. It also considers the fact that what you do today will affect your face in the future, for better or worse.  

So, how does the MD Codes technique help with ageing in the lower half of your face? As it turns out, brilliantly!

Turn that mouth frown upside down

If you’re at the stage where you’ve just developed nasolabial lines and marionette lines, your aesthetic doctor should be able to diminish them in a flash by filling them up with a little dermal filler. However, if you’re at the nasolabial fold stage, the MD Codes technique might surprise you. Instead of using dermal filler only in the lower half of your face, your doctor will inject you in the upper part of your face. By placing a little filler in your cheekbone area, it restores volume loss and creates a little “hill” that lifts up your skin.

To understand it, think of how placing a pillow on your belly under your dress will lift the hem. Placing dermal filler higher up in your face can create the same effect, lifting the skin in the lower half. Also, if the sides of your mouth have started to sag, placing filler into the corners can help lift it.

The bottom line

If you’ve got lines and sagging in the lower half of your face and don’t like them, you don’t have to live with them. You also don’t have to go under the knife to get rid of them. Simply find an experienced injector who’s been trained in the MD Codes technique. Just a few syringes of strategically placed filler might be all you need to rejuvenate your mouth and chin area so you can look and feel your very best.