Lip fillers: How long do they last? How much do they cost? And everything else you need to know

Lip fillers have really had a resurgence in the last few years and it's hard to spot a reality tv star or influencer who hasn't tried it.

But, as with any cosmetic enhancement or tweakment, lip fillers naturally come with many questions.

"How long do lip fillers last?", "How much do lip fillers costs?", "What do lip fillers look like before and after?" and let's not pretend we haven't Googled "Celebrity lip fillers before and after".

It's well known that over-lining your lips and lip plumping lip gloss can work short-term, but there is only one option for those who want to permanently boost their pout: lip fillers.

How much do lip filler injections cost?

In the UK, lip fillers can cost anything from £215 to £1500 (yes, seriously). Most cost around £300, depending on how much filler you want. The more you want to plump your pout, the more it'll cost, so you better get saving if you want to follow in the footsteps of Kylie Jenner.

Lip injections and dermal fillers - what's the difference?

Confusing, but they are very much the same thing. Dermal fillers are the correct term and can be added to anywhere you want plumping, e.g. your cheeks or jaw. Lip injections mean the same thing, though are very specified to the lips.

Are lip filler injections painful?

"Yes, they can because lips are sensitive!" Dr Yannis, Founder & Medical Director of 111 Harley St explains, "If you do it without any anesthetic then it's likely to hurt.

"Of course, there are different thresholds for different patients. I have some who can have dermal fillers without any aesthetics and feel fine, though most of my patients have a little.

"If anyone is worried about the pain, I apply a numbing cream to the lips which takes 20 minutes to work."

Numbing cream, please.

What research should I do before getting lip fillers?

"Lip fillers nowadays are offered at a variety of places, however unfortunately sometimes the practitioner isn't experienced or don't have the correct training so it's very important to do your research," Dr Yannis advises.

He suggests finding somewhere you're happy with and has produced great results in the past (Instagram stalking can be your best friend, here) and reviews are pretty telling.

Lip fillers: what size should I get?

So, 0.5ml - 1ml of filler will give you a natural look, however if you want a really full-on look you can get up to 2ml of filler per session.

Lip filler injections: what's the procedure?

Dermal fillers are the most popular type of lip injection. You may be offered local anesthetic beforehand, and then the practitioner will inject the filler in a series of small injections.The treatment lasts from 30 minutes to an hour.

Are lip filler injections temporary?

Yes, but the length of time they last depends on your procedure.

We spoke to Nurse Aaron ofATYU - London’s Ultimate Skin Concierge for his top tips on making the most of your lip filler appointment...

Nurse Aaron’s Top tips before getting (lip) filler treatments

1. It is best to come to the clinic with an idea of how you wish your lips to look, you can bring reference images if needed.

2. Have realistic expectations, to achieve your desired lips, multiple visits may be necessary.

3. Avoid alcohol for a minimum 24 hours before your treatment.

4. Avoid blood thinning medication for 7 days prior to your appointment, these include but are not limited too - warfarin, aspirin and ibuprofen

5. You can take arnica tablets for 7 days prior to your appointment, this will help with the bruising post treatment.

6. Arrive to the clinic with a ‘clean face’ - washed and without makeup.

7. Drink plenty of water the day of the treatment, hyaluronic acid loves water so will aid in the overall results.

8. Please eat something prior to your appointment, sugar levels and blood pressure can drop during the treatment so having a meal prior to your treatment will help reduce chances of dizziness or passing out.

9. Make yourself aware of possible side effects from the treatment, the most common side effects are bruising and swelling which can temporarily alter the appearance of the lips. All potential side effects will be covered during the consultation with Nurse Aaron.

10. Please be aware if you have previously suffered from cold sores, there is a risk that the treatment will contribute to cold sores returning post treatment.

Where is best place to get lip fillers?

Closer Online tried out ATYU and were extremely happy with the consultation, procedure, aftercare and results. Nurse Aaron was extremely capable and was sure to give natural results without compromising size.

We did suffer some bruising, which is a common side effect, though definitely worth trying arnica tablets for seven days prior to your appointment if you're prone to bruising.

ATYU is ‘London’s Ultimate Skin Care Concierge’, servicing prime W & NW London (Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill, Maida Vale and St Johns Wood and other prime London locations. They also have a clinic in NW London. Check out ATYU's Instagram page,here.

So, how long do lip fillers last?

Most fillers last between six to eight months and most people get their lips topped up every six months to a year; it all depends one your budget and what kind of look your going for.

What are lip injections made of?

The NHS website lists five types of fillers which vary depending on how long you want them to last:

Collagen: Collagen is a type of protein found naturally in the body. The effects of these injections last three to four months.

Hyaluronic acid: This is the type Juvederm is based on, the filler Kylie Jenner swears by. Injections using Hyaluronic acid last four to six months.

Calcium hydroxyapatite: If you're looking for something long-term but not permanent, Calcium hydroxyapatite injections could be for you as the effects last a whopping 18 months!

Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA): These injections are given over several months and last up to two years.

Polymethylmethacrylate beads (PMMA): This bad boy creates a PERMANENT pout, but is also the most risky.

Can lip injections be reversed?

Hyaluronidase is used to breakdown hyaluronic acid, and can be injected to speed up the natural breakdown and essentially dissolve the original injection.

What are the side effects of lip filler injections?

The most common side effects are bleeding, swelling, bruising and redness at the site of injection. These usually last a few days.

Check out: shocking celebrity lip fillers before and after, from Bobby Norris to Louise Thompson

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What do lip fillers feel like?

After the first few days, your lips feel swollen and numb, however the feeling subsides after a week and the your lips feel like, er... lips! You forget that you've even had a procedure done (that is, until you see yourself in the mirror!).

Book a consultation at 111 Harley Street if you think Dermal Fillers are right for you....

Botched lip fillers: what are the dangers?

The most common danger with lip fillers is that they could be badly filled and you end up with lumpy, disproportionate lips. This is most likely to occur if your practitioner is improperly trained, so do your research on the clinic you use! The more permanent the filler, the riskier the treatment, which is why some practitioners avoid permanent fillers altogether.

Geordie Shore’s Sophie Kasaei was a victim of botched lip fillers, appearing on Channel 5’s Celebrity Botched Up Bodies saying she ‘looked like the elephant man’ with ‘horrendous and lumpy’ lips.

WATCH: Emma Kenny’s mood boosting tips

Dr Christian: 'Lip fillers aren't risk free'

Large numbers of young people have had lip enhancements – but eight in 10 practitioners offering them aren’t properly qualified. Dr C explains his concerns and why he hates the word ‘tweakments’

A recent survey of 18-to-24-year-olds found that seven per cent had undergone a cosmetic lip enhancement, and nearly 70 per cent knew someone who had. Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague has talked about having her lips enhanced when she was 17 – nobody should have given that to her at such a young age. It’s been illegal to give cosmetic enhancements like lip fillers and Botox to under-18s since October last year, but it should have been the case far sooner.

Take it seriously

Because we see enhanced lips all over TV and social media it has become normalised, like getting your nails done, but there are health and psychological risks. Firstly – and I don’t see this written enough – it’s incredibly painful. I don’t know how people endure it. More importantly, up to eight in 10 of the people offering lip enhancements don’t have any medical experience.

If you were to collapse in front of a doctor if something when wrong during a lip enhancement, they would know what to do. A beautician or hairdresser wouldn’t. When things go wrong, the outcome can be terrible. For example, you can get necrosis of your lips – which is tissue death – because poorly injected filler has blocked a blood vessel and there’s no blood flow. If that happened, you could lose vision in one eye, and you’d want to be in the hands of doctor. You’d need a good knowledge of facial anatomy to work out which blood vessel you had accidentally injected filler into, where it runs and where you can access to clear it out – because that has to be done within 60-90 minutes to avoid irreversible blindness. Every procedure carries risks, so you need to be treated by a properly qualified medical practitioner who can also recognise and deal with complications.

Check credentials

Those offering to give lip enhancements need other skills, too. One is to have an eye for the aesthetics of it – is the person giving you filler skilful enough to make you look natural, or how you want to look? I speak at a lot of conferences and meet practitioners who have had so much work done themselves that they have lost all sense of what is subtle or normal. Then there’s what you do when it goes wrong. It’s possible after a treatment that you’ll feel unhappy with the outcome, but if you aren’t seeing someone medically trained, they won’t have the skills to correct it.

Ask yourself why

It’s also important you’re properly assessed to work out whether you should go through with lip fillers. A beautician or hairdresser won’t know how to check if you have body dysmorphia, a mental-health condition where you are racked with worry about “flaws”. Surgeons can be sued or struck off if they give a treatment to a patient who has body dysmorphia without having properly assessed them. Someone with body dysmorphia will never be

happy and will always want more treatments because the reason for their unhappiness isn’t really about how they look. If you were thinking about having a cosmetic procedure, I would say first think about why you want it, and what you think it will change. You shouldn’t have cosmetic procedures because you’re feeling peer pressure or you’re not unhappy for another reason, like a relationship break-up. Talk to people who have your best interests at heart about what you’re feeling before deciding fuller lips will solve everything.

Think long term

The same non-medical places that offer lip fillers also offer to “easily” fix botched enhancements. This is done by injecting an enzyme that dissolves the filler but if you’ve had a lot of it, when you dissolve it your lips may be left stretched and baggy. Sometimes when people go to someone without the proper training on the cheap, with a problem that can be hard to fix, they can be disappointed with the results because their lips are too swollen and it warps their facial expressions and even makes it hard to speak. When things are done badly, they can be difficult to correct, so you need to visit an accredited practitioner.

The fact that lip fillers are referred to as “tweakments” really worries me. I made a US documentary a few years ago about medics who kill. One was Michael Jackson’s doctor, who would give a propofol infusion, which is a powerful general anaesthetic, but call it “sleepy milk”. That makes it sound quite nice and gentle, but it’s very dangerous and powerful. The same is true here. Give something a cute name and you take the sting out of it and we all drop our guard and relax more than we should.

People can suffer serious complications, distress and permanent disfigurement as a result of lip fillers and similar procedures – they are not just a “tweak”, like a haircut.

Do your research

If you really want lip fillers, do your homework. Research who you’ll go to, check their qualifications and whether they’re accredited by governing bodies (check the Save Face website). Look at some of their work, and listen to what they say about the jeopardy. We’re heavy on describing the negatives around cosmetic surgery but it can also be positive and give people confidence – just please go to someone with the right qualifications. It’s your face, it’s not worth taking a risk.