Talking Lips

Plump lips are often associated with a youthful and healthy appearance. However, because lips are delicate, constantly in use, and continuously exposed to environmental stressors, they are particularly prone to dehydration and aging compared to other areas of the face. The unique structure of lip skin contributes to these vulnerabilities, with a much thinner stratum corneum than that of facial skin, which explains the increased visibility of the capillaries that supply the lips. Lips also lack sweat glands and sebaceous glands, essential for producing a protective hydrolipidic film. As a result, the barrier function of lip skin is reduced, leading to higher trans-epidermal water loss compared to facial skin .

With age, lips lose volume and become drier more quickly than other facial areas. Aging also causes thinning, flattening, discoloration, and less defined contours of the lips, all of which are related to a loss of volume, elasticity, and firmness. Despite the unique characteristics of lip skin that contribute to these issues, relatively few studies have explored the biophysical properties of dry lip skin or identified molecular targets influencing its physiology.

The key molecule involved in skin moisture is hyaluronic acid (HA) due to its exceptional ability to bind and retain water. Naturally occurring HA in the skin decreases with age, particularly in the epidermis, resulting in reduced tissue elasticity and hydration, which contribute to visible aging features such as wrinkles.

However, delivering molecules like HA to the skin to address signs of aging and enhance its appearance remains a challenge. Conventional topical formulations, such as creams and gels, face significant limitations in penetrating the stratum corneum, the skin's primary barrier, which prevents large molecules like HA from reaching deeper layers. As a result, most topical applications of HA act only on the skin's surface.

To bypass the stratum corneum and deliver macromolecules into deeper layers, traditional methods such as needle injections and physical penetration enhancers (e.g., microneedles, iontophoresis, and thermal ablation) are commonly used. However, these procedures are often costly, invasive, and associated with adverse effects.

For aesthetically conscious individuals, concerns about cost, safety, fear of needles, and procedure-related pain represent significant barriers to pursuing such treatments. Even among individuals opting for lip injections with HA-containing fillers, issues such as loss of clinical response over time, frequent adverse events, and aversion to repeat injections (commonly referred to as “filler fatigue”) highlight the limitations of current approaches.

These challenges underscore an unmet need for effective, noninvasive delivery methods for HA and similar molecules, particularly for applications like lip enhancement or to complement HA injections by maintaining hydration and skin structural integrity between treatments.

Not my own work. Taken from:

A. Moradi, C. Jacob, J. Tao, R. Love, S. Osborne, and T. Fleck, “ Efficacy and Tolerability of a Topical Peptide-Hyaluronic Acid Lip Treatment Using a Novel Delivery System in Subjects With and Without Prior Lip Augmentation,” Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 24, no. 12 (2025): e70563, https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.70563.

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