Fuller lips knock years off

Unilever scientist David Gunn’s study of over 250 women, including sets of twins, has shown plumper lips take years off.

Experts already know that lips reach their maximum volume in young adulthood, and tend to begin to shrink between the ages of 30 and 40. The researchers on this study also found a large variation in lip thickness among women over 60, revealing thin lips as a genetic trait rather than as a result of our environment. The pink part of the thinnest lips measured just 3mm from the top of the upper lip to the bottom of the lower lip, while the fullest lips among the over-sixties measured 2.2cm.

For the thin-lipped, although surgery and Botox can be an effective way to increase the size of your lips, experts are divided over whether it makes a convincing difference. Drawbacks to implants are also well publicised and can lead to the so-called ‘trout pout’, as experienced by actress Leslie Ash after her implant surgery. Mr Gunn said there was little to be gained by surgery, saying ‘it just looks odd because it doesn’t counter the impact of a wrinkled face.’