Called ‘devil lips’, or ‘octopus lips’, a cosmetic procedure that allegedly involves inserting filler into the edge of the upper lip to give it a wavy look is getting a lot of attention on Instagram these days.
No one knows exactly when and where this unusual beauty trend originated, but some sources claim that the procedure was pioneered by Russian plastic surgeon Emelian Braude. One thing’s for sure, though, the unusual lip contouring technique has been raising eyebrows on social media, especially in Russia, where it’s supposedly the most popular. But before you pick up the phone and call your favorite plastic surgeon about the devil lips procedure, you should know that no one is yet clear if it actually exists. Some plastic surgeons say that getting this wavy contour through lip fillers alone is impossible, and attempting to to do can be very dangerous.
Photos: fmc.aestheticsliverpool/Instagram
“You cannot change the anatomical shape of the lips like this,” Dr. Krystyna Wilczynski told Dazed Beauty. “You can sharpen and contour by enhancing the vermillion border, but these ‘devil lips’ are unnatural. Filler injected inappropriately could end up in a blood vessel, causing blockages and leading to necrosis (death) of the tissue. The vessels are around the lips, so using filler inappropriately is what can cause this.”
Digital image altering software like Photoshop is apparently the easiest way to attain the wavy lips look, but the problem is that some of the photos circulating online are so believable that some girls may actually try to copy the look by using lip fillers, which can cause lasting damage.
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“Please don’t be naive and follow silly trends like this,” beauty influencer and Dermaspa founder, Nilam Holmes, posted on Instagram. “You will not be able to reverse it easily and go back to your natural lips if at all. Your lip border will be distorted and it won’t wear off evenly so you will have frilly lips for years to come.”
While actually deformed upper lips may only be achievable by extensive plastic surgery or Photoshop, makeup artists have already started imitating the look using cosmetic products like lipstick and lip contouring pencils.
Online reactions to the devil lips trend varies from “I think I like it” to “hideous” and “scary”.
“Try applying for a job with lips like that,” one person commented.
