Q/A: Sagging around corners of mouth and jawline, fine lines around the mouth

Question: What should I do about sagging around mouth and jaw?I'm noticing sagging around mouth and jaw, small fine lines around my mouth, and a slight sagging around mouth and jaw.

Dr. Marotta's Response: Sagging around the mouth and jaw occurs as a result of weaking of the facial ligaments and drooping of the cheeks and facial tissues that begins early in the aging process. Smile lines or nasolabial folds that run from the corner of the nose to the corner of the mouth and labiomandibular folds or marionette lines that run from the corner of the mouth toward the mandible can be the result. This can be seen in even as early as the late 20s or early 30s. Fine lines around the mouth, smoker's lines, lipstick lines or now "waterbottle" lines occur as a result of repetitive pursing and loss of collagen and elastin. There are both surgical and non-surgical options for these problems. For the sagging around the mouth and jaw an endoscopic midface (cheek) lift with buccal fat repositioning can help elevate the sagging tissues of the cheek that are pushing on the corner of the mouth and jaw creating the folds. Microfat transfer into the folds helps lessen them even more. For fine lines around the mouth fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, dermabrasion or chemical peel work quite well and offer more lasting improvements. Non-surgical options include fillers like juvederm, restylane, radiesse or perlane to mask the folds around the mouth and jawline and to augment or volumize the cheeks. Botox can be used to elevate the corners of the mouth by injecting the depressor anguli oris muscle. Fine lines around the mouth can be alleviated with Botox and fillers as well.