Lips can be augmented by either injecting temporary or permanent fillers into the tissues just under the skin. Some people develop inflammatory reactions to the particle containing permanent injectable fillers so it is safer to avoid these. The 'gel' type fillers which contain either hyaluronate (short acting 6 months) or a polyvinyl compound (long acting 2-10 years) are much safer. They do not contain any animal protein such as bovine collagen therefore allergy testing is not needed to use products such as 'Restylane', 'Esthelis', 'Teosyal' (6 months) or 'Aquamid' (2-10 years). Temporary fillers can last 6 to 18 months depending on the type used. Injectable fillers cannot be removed, you have to wait for them to be slowly absorbed.

Another option is to have a surgical procedure performed to make your lips appear fuller without having foreign material injected into them.
In this operation, small cuts (incisions) are made on the inside of the lip to allow the mucosa to be lowered to bulk up the pink part of the lip, the 'vermillion'. The surgery takes about 1 hour for the upper or lower lip and it is performed under local anaesthetic (the area is numb but you are awake). It will take 1-2 weeks for the swelling to disappear.