
Welcome to Pearlman Aesthetic Surgery for lip lifts in NYC on Park Avenue.
Dr. Pearlman’s lip lift procedure is a custom cosmetic surgery that shortens and lifts the upper lip to produce a more aesthetically pleasing shape and size without looking too puffy or “duck-like.”
Get the lips of your dreams.
As we age, the lips tend to flatten, lengthen and lose their definition.
Mature patients often request a lip lift to restore a more youthful shape and fullness to their lips. The lip lift procedure involves removing a small horizontal section of the skin beneath the nose to shorten the space between the nose and the lip, as well as turning the upper lip slightly outward to reveal more of the inner, pink lip structure. This procedure creates a plumper, fuller, and more youthful look to thin or aging lips.
A lip lift in NYC by Dr. Pearlman can:
Lift and reshape the upper lip, upturning it to add fullness
Restore the “cupid’s bow” shape at the center of the upper lip
Reduce the “skin” portion of the upper lip, shortening its distance from the nose

The Kinds of Lip Lifts
Subnasal Lip Lift or Cupid Lift
A subnasal or “cupid” lip lift focuses on shortening the distance between your upper lip and the nose, an area called the philtrum. By removing a precise strip of skin beneath the nose—lifting the entire upper lip—this approach results in an overall fuller pout and more vermillion show (the pink, inner part of the lip). When performing a subnasal lip lift in NYC, Dr. Pearlman carefully creates an incision along the natural curves of the nostrils at the bottom of the nose, resembling that of a bullhorn, to reshape the general upper lip region while camouflaging scars. His meticulous technique provides more natural-looking results than a direct lip lift, focusing more on overall facial balancing.
Dr. Pearlman tailors the amount of lip advancement to every patient, as people of different ages can benefit from a subnasal lip lift for different reasons. The philtrum column is prone to elongating with age, in which case we may recommend pairing a lip lift with a facelift for a seamless transformation. A cupid’s bow lip lift also offers younger patients a permanent alternative to lip filler and allows them to achieve their desired level of dental show or “teeth cleavage”—the amount of your teeth that show when you are not smiling.
Corner Lip Lift
A corner lip lift focuses on lifting the corners of the mouth, and is often combined with a subnasal lip lift—which only advances the center of the lip for patients with narrow noses—to provide more natural-looking results. However, a corner lip lift can be performed independently if your only goal is to correct a downturned smile or a condition where the vermillion does not extend to the corners of your mouth, requiring less downtime than a “full” lip lift due to the even smaller incisions.
If you’ve noticed that you appear upset or frowning when your face is at rest, Dr. Pearlman may recommend a corner lip lift in NYC to create a more positive resting expression. Just like with thin lips, some people are born with a downturned smile, while others develop it as a result of aging, so Dr. Pearlman precisely adjusts his technique to help patients of different ages achieve the most balanced results.
Direct Lip Lift or Lip Advancement
A direct or “gullwing” lip lift is a technique that focuses on making the vermillion more visible. By removing a small amount of skin directly above the lip, this approach lifts the upper lip to define the lip’s natural borders and is referred to as a “gullwing” lip lift because the unique incision pattern resembles the wings of a seagull.
However, Dr. Pearlman rarely recommends this procedure, as it flattens the junction between the vermillion and skin portion of the lip.
The Lip Lift Procedure
How it Works
Consultation
Anesthesia
Incisions & Removal
Placing Sutures

During your initial visit, Dr. Pearlman will examine your lips and work with you to choose the best approach for your needs and unique anatomy. Then, you will both establish mutual goals for your lip lift in NYC at our Manhattan office. Dr. Pearlman will go over the process and expectations, as well as take the time to answer any of your questions about a lip lift.
One of the pillars of Dr. Pearlman’s philosophy is creating a harmonious look with the end result of a lip lift. He takes great care to achieve your desired results using advanced methods and techniques for a beautiful result for your lip.

When you arrive for your lip lift in NYC, Dr. Pearlman and his team of experienced medical professionals will answer any questions you have before helping you get comfortable. To ensure your comfort during the procedure, we administer nerve-blocker injections to numb the entire upper lip and provide local anesthesia, which does not require that you fast beforehand or avoid driving home after surgery like with general anesthesia.
Your emotional comfort is just as important to us as your physical comfort, so we may also provide Pronox (laughing gas) or oral sedatives to relieve any anxiety.

With over 30 years of experience in facial plastic surgery, Dr. Pearlman creates the smallest incisions possible with the utmost precision, resulting in a better healing process and better long-term results.
To ensure the most natural-looking results, we create incisions along the natural folds and borders of your nose and/or mouth—directly below the nose for a bullhorn lip lift or at the edge of the lips for a corner lip lift.
Next, Dr. Pearlman will remove any excess tissue to allow him to gently lift the lip into a more optimal position, proportionate to your other features, and help you achieve the amount of dental cleavage and lip show you envision. The amount of skin removed depends on your specific needs, including the surgical techniques and your unique anatomy.

As a uniquely dual-board certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Pearlman doesn’t overlook the importance of precisely placing ultra-fine sutures, which allow for optimal healing.
After repositioning the tissue to the desired location and re-suspending it to the skin and circular muscle around the lips—called the orbicularis oris—Dr. Pearlman will use small sutures to close the incision in layers along the natural borders of your lips or nose. This allows your skin to heal as inconspicuously as possible, making scarring virtually invisible.
Your Recovery Timeline
Dr. Pearlman and the rest of our skilled team are just as committed to your safety and comfort after surgery as we are during your lip lift procedure.
Good Things Take Time
Day 1: Immediately after your lip lift in NYC, it’s important to prioritize rest and give your body time to recover. Dr. Pearlman will send you home with detailed instructions to aid the healing process, and while they may vary depending on the kind and extent of your surgery, it’s always important to keep your incisions clean and take pain medications and antibiotics as prescribed. We recommend using a cool compress to minimize discomfort and swelling and sticking to soft, non-spicy foods like smoothies and soups to avoid unnecessary strain on your lips.
Week 1: Over the next week, it’s still essential to keep the area clean and dry. Do not massage the area or pick at any scabs, and only apply ointments and other products as directed. Continue to eat carefully and sleep with your head elevated to minimize swelling. You should also avoid smoking or drinking alcohol, which can interfere with the natural healing process. We recommend that you still hold off on strenuous activity and wearing makeup around your incisions until the following week. We’ll invite you back to our office 4 days after your surgery to strategically remove some sutures, and then again 2 days later to remove the remaining sutures. Dr. Pearlman crafted this unique 2-step process to further minimize scarring.
Week 2: About 2 weeks after surgery, you can gradually return to light exercise, but remember to continue prioritizing rest and hydration. Gently apply a moisturizer as directed to keep the incision site hydrated, but still refrain from rubbing the area. You should still be cautious not to over-express your lips and limit intense movements, which can cause strain during recovery.
Weeks 3-4: Now, you can typically begin to gently massage the area—if cleared by Dr. Pearlman—to reduce any tension. You can also begin using scar treatments as directed once your incisions have fully healed. It’s still important to avoid hot tubs, saunas, and other excessive heat sources, which can worsen swelling.
Weeks 5-6: After about 5 to 6 weeks, you can resume your normal activities, including exercise. You can also spend time in the sun, but be sure to apply broad-spectrum SPF and/or wear protective clothing to protect the healing tissues. Remember that full recovery can take several months, so listen to your body—and your surgeon—and stay consistent with your care. Depending on your situation, Dr. Pearlman may suggest starting laser treatments to ensure the best healing or administering injections to soften firm tissue as your lip heals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lip Lift
Am I a good candidate for a lip lift?
As you get older, the ligaments between the nose and upper lip can loosen and weaken, causing the area to increase in length, from one to three millimeters every decade after your 20s. Over time, this causes less of the pink of your upper lip to show, making the mouth look smaller, the upper lip appear thinner, and less shapely definition of the Cupid’s Bow.
Many of our patients desire the more youthful look of a plumper upper lip that slightly exposes the top teeth when relaxed. If you experience the thinning of your upper lip and desire a more youthful and natural pout, a lip lift may be a great option for you.
Other ideal patients include those who have been using lip fillers for a plumper upper lip and would like longer-lasting results than those from lip fillers. If you are seeking a more natural look than implants or fillers, you may also be a good candidate for a lip lift.
Does a lip lift make more of my pink lip pigment show?
Yes, a lip lift can make more of the pink-colored part of your upper lip, or vermilion, show by repositioning the tissues. By shortening the distance between your nose and lips, a lip lift raises the upper lip to expose more of the naturally pigmented tissue, especially for individuals with a long upper lip that covers part of their teeth. If your vermillion stops short of the corner of your mouth, we may recommend combining a subnasal lip lift with a corner of lip lift.
A lip lift does not change your lip’s pigmentation, but rather makes its natural color more visible by revealing an area previously obscured. This can make your lips appear fuller and more defined and youthful, without appearing unnatural, “overdone,” or “duck-like.” Dr. Pearlman’s meticulous lip lift techniques can also define your cupid’s bow—the curve at the top of your upper lip—to further enhance your natural contours and restore overall facial harmony.
How do I avoid scarring?
Dr. Pearlman performs every lip lift in NYC with the utmost precision, using advanced techniques at every stage of the surgical process to minimize scarring. Depending on the kind of lip lift you opt for—subnasal (cupid) or corner—he will create precise incisions along the natural borders of your lip or creases of your nose to conceal any future scarring. We may also perform laser treatments and/or injections starting as early as 6 weeks post-op to help your skin heal more seamlessly.
After surgery, it’s important to follow Dr. Pearlman’s recovery guidelines to help your skin heal properly and preserve the health of tissues throughout recovery. For example, keeping the incision site clean and dry for the weeks after your procedure reduces the risk of infection, which can worsen scarring. It’s also important to apply SPF to the area to protect it from UV rays during and after the healing process, as the sun can cause scar tissue to darken or thicken.
You should avoid overusing your lip muscles through excessive facial expressions during the first week of recovery, which can put unnecessary strain on the tissue as it heals. We recommend sticking to a soft diet in the weeks after surgery to reduce the amount of chewing necessary for this reason.
How do I know if my lips have hooded corners?
Many people with hooded corners of the lips notice that they appear tired or sad, despite not feeling that way, due to a downturned mouth. Hooded corners cause the edges of the lips to droop downward, which can create a permanent negative facial expression. While this condition is often brought on by aging, it may also occur due to genetics or weakening lip muscles, potentially offsetting the delicate balance between your features and making you appear less youthful.
If you notice that the corners of your mouth remain flat when you smile—rather than lifting up—this may be a sign of hooded corners. Dr. Pearlman may recommend a corner lip lift in NYC for patients struggling with these concerns, as this technique focuses on repositioning the corners of the mouth to reestablish a youthful, upturned appearance.
How do lip lifts compare to lip injections?
Lip injections offer non-surgical lip enhancement, which means that they require less downtime, but more maintenance. It’s important to understand that various injection formulas work differently—providing different results with their own unique upkeep needs.
Lip fillers, such as Juvéderm and Restylane, use a hyaluronic acid (HA) based gel to “fill” the area. This formula binds to water beneath your skin’s surface, increasing volume. While results are immediate, they typically last between 4 and 6 months, requiring regular maintenance injections to uphold your results. Typically, dermal fillers offer longer-lasting results in other areas like the cheeks and jawline, as your lips are constantly moving while you talk, eat, and drink. Over time, dermal fillers can migrate to areas beyond where they were originally injected, which can lead to uneven distribution, asymmetry, and unnatural-looking texture.
Botox is another injectable option, which works around the lips rather than in the lips themselves. As a wrinkle relaxer, Botox works by temporarily limiting specific muscle movements, hence why it’s often used to smooth and prevent wrinkles. When artfully injected around the lips, Botox can slightly adjust how the upper lip sits—changing its position so that your upper lip appears fuller or reducing the amount of your gums that show when smiling. This formula takes about a week to “settle” and provide results, which last about 8 weeks.
Lastly, we also offer PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) injections for the lips, which work by triggering collagen and elastin production. This gives your body the resources to plump your lips naturally, offering gradual and more subtle results, which can last up to 12 months after a series of injections.
Dr. Pearlman may recommend a lip lift in NYC rather than injections if you are seeking a lasting solution and want to avoid excessive fullness, often called a “trout pout.” His personalized lip lift techniques deliver results that rarely—if ever—require updating.
How long does a lip lift last?
A lip lift has some of the longest lasting results because the lip lift procedure involves the actual removal of accumulated skin to create a shorter philtrum (that space between your upper lip and your nose). This delivers a long-lasting result that rarely requires updating, if ever. While some patients see a slight relaxation of the skin between the nose and upper lip over the first year afterward, most of the initial results are there for the long term.
What is dental hooding and how does a lip lift correct it?
Dental hooding is a condition that causes the upper lip to extend over the upper teeth, making them less visible when you speak or smile, due to excess skin in the philtrum—the area between the upper lip and nose. This can make your upper lip appear longer and less defined, subduing the natural curvature. In some cases, dental hooding can cause a “gummy smile,” where the upper gums become more visible when speaking or smiling. While dental hooding can occur with age and as the philtrum begins to sag and elongate, it can develop at any age.
A subnasal lip lift can correct dental hooding by shortening the philtrum and lifting the lip into a more youthful, defined position. This can allow your upper teeth to show more when speaking or smiling while balancing your facial features.
What is recovery like from a lip lift?
You may experience some pain and discomfort for the first 72 hours after your lip lift, but this is pretty easily managed by oral pain medication. Most patients return to work after three days. In less than a week, we will remove the stitches to finalize healing. Your lips may experience some swelling for the first one to two weeks and a feeling of tightness may linger for two to four months in some cases.

We Lead The Leaders
Dr. Steven Pearlman leads the leaders of the facial plastic and reconstructive surgery world, traveling across the globe to share his revolutionary techniques with other renowned surgeons. As a dual board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and head and neck surgeon, Dr. Pearlman is uniquely qualified to perform lip lift procedures—he’s spent decades mastering the art and science behind enhancing patients’ unique features that make them who they are.
His mission to empower beauty empowers you, and that starts with trusting the hands performing your surgery.
PATIENT EXPERIENCES
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Nicholas
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ANGIE OJEDA
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Patricia Lentini
"I will put it simple. Dr. Pearlman saved my life when it comes to being truly happy with my self again. I was involved in an accident years ago and had 3 surgeries prior to seeing Dr. Pearlman. He used my rib cartilage to rebuild my nose back to normal and I would say he is one of the best revision rhinoplasty surgeon in the country. I wish I had found him sooner. This review is not only to commend him and his excellent staff for the job they did, but also to catch someones eye who is in fear and worried about getting a procedure done. I was terrified and it worked out. Go see Dr. Pearlman and you will not be sorry. This is not some corny “review”, I want to help someone who is searching for help like I was."
Nicholas
Outstanding quality of medical care. Dr. Lisa Vasquez is who I prefer to see. She is always so patient in explaining everything she is doing, she gives her honest opinion on what works best for my looks. I am always 100% impressed with all her work on me. Too good I keep going back for more. I like keeping things looking natural as possible, and she does a perfect job at that. Not only has she taken great care of what I am needing, but also she is lovely to speak with at every appointment. It’s rare to find a doctor that combines such personal touches and care for a patient as a person with outstanding quality of medical care. I highly recommend becoming her patient!
ANGIE OJEDA
I had an amazing experience with Dr Pearlman and his staff. The staff was so friendly and helpful, I felt right at home. I needed a revision rhinoplasty, my fourth to be exact, due to a car accident I was involved in years ago. Dr Pearlman explained the procedure in every detail and answered all my questions so I felt very comfortable and confident with him. I had my surgery which went very well and recovery was so much easier then my 3 previous surgeries with other doctors. They even played my favorite music which calmed me during surgery. And the results were fantastic. So if you need rhinoplasty this is definitely the best Dr to Perform the job. Great experience all around.
Patricia Lentini

Persistent in the Pursuit of Perfection
For decades, Dr. Pearlman has been persistent in his search for perfection as a top facial surgeon in New York. He brings evolution, experience, expertise, and uniqueness to his patients in our Park Avenue office. The goal of Pearlman Aesthetic Surgery is to help patients actualize their ideal self-image for the highest level of personal authenticity and attractiveness. Dr. Pearlman couples an attentive bedside manner and genuine concern for his patients’ welfare to deliver the best lip lift results.

Find out if a lip lift is right for you.
Designed by our aesthetic and surgical specialists, our procedure match tool will help you learn more about the possibilities for your lip lift in NYC with Dr. Pearlman.
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Further Your REsults
A variety of other procedures can be combined with lip enhancement and lip lift to provide full facial rejuvenation. Below are some of the most commonly paired treatments, among many more options available.