Marionette lines

Marionette lines are wrinkles that extend from each corner of your mouth down your chin. Marionette lines can cause your mouth to look downturned, giving you an unhappy appearance. During the ageing process, the fat pads in our upper face gradually diminish, while the fat pads in our lower face become fuller. This causes our skin to sag downwards and develops folds, such as marionette lines.

Facial fillers are very effective at dealing with deep wrinkles such as marionette lines. They gently plump out the wrinkles, resulting in a smoother appearance.

Dermal fillers can also be used to add volume to your cheeks, replacing the diminishing fat pads in that area. This treatment will lift your skin and, as a result, reduce the appearance of marionette lines.

While dermal fillers are usually the ‘go-to’ treatment for marionette lines, the neurotoxin injection is also a useful option. It can be used to relax the muscles which pull down the corners of your mouth and accentuate the appearance of marionette lines. We can use the neurotoxin in conjunction with dermal fillers to maximise the improvement.

There is no downtime for this treatment and results are immediate, lasting 6 to 12 months or longer.

The so-called ‘marionette lines’ are long vertical lines that commonly develop on each side of the chin as a result of the ageing process and other lifestyle factors. They get their name from marionette string puppets, which are known for having split jaws so puppeteers can open and close their mouths to make them look like they are talking.

The skin around your mouth is thinner compared with the rest of your face, so it is particularly prone to wrinkling. Marionette lines are caused by a combination of collagen breakdown and loss of elastin that leads to the loosening of skin in the cheeks and lower part of the face.

People typically begin developing marionette lines in their late 30s or early 40s. In the early stages, marionette lines are barely visible, but as time goes by these creases can become very deep and noticeable. Once they have appeared, the only way to fix marionette lines is to get to the source of the problem.