Botulinum Toxin Used on Perioral ‘Bar Code’

Patients who don’t like the vertical lines that form above the lips when they pucker up may benefit from botulinum toxin injections.

“Many patients look at themselves in the morning and they’re not concerned about lip volume, but they’re concerned about these radiating lines that go around their mouth. We call this the ‘bar code,’ ” Dr. Joel L. Cohen said.

These patients may complain of radiating lines when the mouth is animated, of lipstick bleeding out from the lips, or of a hollowed look around the mouth. The injection of botulinum toxin into the orbicularis oris muscles can “soften” the columns that appear when the mouth moves, he said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Surgery in Las Vegas.

He and his associates compared two doses of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) to treat the bar code in a recent study of 60 patients. To make the comparison, the investigators first developed three photographic scales for classifying aesthetic features of the perioral area; they presented the scales in a poster at the 2011 meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. The scale used in this study assigns a severity grade of none, mild, moderate, or severe vertical lip-line attributes when the lips are at maximum contraction.

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Source:  By SHERRY BOSCHERT, at Skin & Allergy News Digital Network for Skin and Allergy News