Lip Lines and Marionette Lines: What Works Around the Mouth

The vertical lines above the upper lip — the ones that make lipstick bleed — and the creases that run from the corners of the mouth down towards the chin are the two marks that age the lower face fastest. They usually get filed under the same heading, but they are two different problems, with different causes and very different room for improvement.

There is good news, though, and it applies above all to lip lines: unlike the fold that runs from the nose to the mouth, here the main cause sits in the skin itself. And when the problem is in the skin, a product applied to the skin finally has something to work on. In this guide you'll find what separates the two marks, what the studies actually say about the ingredients that work, and why smoking leaves such a recognisable signature on this particular part of the face.

Two different problems in the same area

Lip lines: real wrinkles

These are the vertical lines that start at the border of the upper lip and travel upwards towards the nose. You'll see them called perioral wrinkles in the dermatology literature, smoker's lines in most beauty writing, and "barcode lines" in the shorthand everyone actually uses — a name that describes the look better than it describes the cause, since they appear perfectly well in people who have never touched a cigarette.

What matters is that here we are dealing with wrinkles in the strict sense of the word: creases etched into the skin, produced by the repeated contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle acting on tissue that has lost collagen and elastin. The review by Grewal in Clinics in Dermatology (PMID 34838938) sets out the perioral region and its peculiarities well.

Marionette lines: a loss of support

These are the two creases that descend from the corners of the mouth towards the chin, and they owe their name to the hinged mouth of a wooden puppet. Their origin is entirely different: this is a problem of support. When the tissue of the cheek descends and the jowl forms along the jawline, the corner of the mouth loses its underpinning and the crease appears.

It is the same structural logic that governs the nose-to-mouth fold, which we covered in nasolabial folds. If that is your main concern, that article is more relevant to you than this one.

In practice the two marks coexist, and most people over forty have some of each. But knowing which of the two bothers you more completely changes what is worth doing about it.

Why the lip area is the most fragile skin on the face

Skin with no defences of its own

The border of the upper lip has properties you won't find elsewhere on the face. The skin is thin, and above all it is poor in sebaceous glands and hair follicles. That has two practical consequences: it holds on to water far worse than the rest of the face, because the lipid film that acts as a barrier elsewhere is largely missing, and it has smaller reserves of stem cells for repair, since the follicle is one of the reservoirs the skin draws on to regenerate itself.

It is an area that starts at a disadvantage, and on which damage accumulates faster than anywhere else on the lower face.

A muscle that works in a ring

The orbicularis oris is a circular muscle whose fibres insert directly into the dermis. When it contracts — talking, drinking, kissing, pursing the lips — it pulls the skin towards the centre, perpendicular to the lip border. That is where the vertical orientation of the lines comes from.

Watch out for one practical consequence: drinking through a straw, smoking, or any gesture that involves repeatedly pursing the lips adds contractions on top of each other. It is not the main cause, but on an area that is already fragile every repetition counts.

The sun, which nobody takes seriously here

The upper lip is a prominent, forward-facing area, and almost nobody applies sunscreen there with the same care they give the cheekbones. Photoageing degrades collagen and elastin precisely where there is already too little of both, which is why two people of the same age can look a decade apart across this one strip of skin.

Smoking, and the twin study

That smoking ages the skin is something people have said for as long as anyone can remember, but isolating the effect is genuinely difficult: smokers often differ in sun exposure, diet and sleep as well. There is, however, one study design that gets around the problem rather elegantly.

The work by Doshi, published in Archives of Dermatology (PMID 18087005), compared identical twins discordant for smoking: same genetics, different histories. The differences in cutaneous ageing were visible and measurable, and the perioral region is among the areas where they read most clearly. The review by Urbańska (PMID 23421102) gathers the mechanisms: oxidative stress, degradation of the dermal fibre network, and reduced microcirculation.

On top of the biochemical damage comes the mechanical kind: the act of inhaling purses the lips thousands upon thousands of times. That is why lip lines get called smoker's lines even though they are not remotely exclusive to smokers — in people who smoke they simply arrive earlier and cut deeper.

What actually works on lip lines

Here, unlike the areas where the problem is volumetric, topical products have a real target. It is still worth separating what has solid evidence behind it from what does not.

Retinoids — first on the list

These are the actives with the most robust documentation on dermal remodelling. The study by Kafi in Archives of Dermatology (PMID 17515510) tested retinol 0.4% against vehicle, three times a week for up to 24 weeks, and found a significant improvement in fine wrinkles. Retinol stimulates collagen synthesis: exactly what is in short supply in this area.

The obligatory caution: the skin around the mouth is every bit as reactive as the skin around the eyes. You start low — two or three evenings a week, always applied over a moisturising vehicle — and you keep the product off the vermilion of the lip itself. Retinoids should be avoided in pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

Vitamin C

It is the cofactor for the enzymes that stabilise collagen: without it, the fibre does not assemble correctly in the first place. The double-blind study by Humbert in Experimental Dermatology (PMID 12823436) assessed topical ascorbic acid against placebo on photoaged skin, with positive outcomes on both clinical and ultrastructural parameters; the review by Al-Niaimi (PMID 29104718) summarises the mechanisms and the limits.

The practical limitation is stability: L-ascorbic acid oxidises on contact with air and light. If your serum has turned amber, it has stopped working, and no amount of diligent application will change that.

Topical hyaluronic acid

On this area it plays a bigger role than it does elsewhere, precisely because the skin here holds water so badly. The review by Bravo in Dermatologic Therapy (PMID 36200921) documents real effects on hydration and skin quality. It remains a surface-level and reversible action — you are not remodelling anything — but on chronically dehydrated tissue the visible gain is substantial, and it is the fastest change you will see.

On choosing a serious formulation we've written about how to choose a hyaluronic acid cream, and on the difference between molecular sizes in high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid.

Marionette lines are another story entirely

On this part we have to be blunt, because this is where cosmetic marketing promises the most and delivers the least.

If the crease originates from tissue descending along the jawline, no product applied to the surface of the skin lifts that tissue back up. The same reasoning applies as with the nasolabial fold: you can improve the quality of the surface, and that changes how the crease reads — a less defined edge, less shadow, more even texture — but the volume that has descended stays exactly where it has gone.

What you can work on with concrete results is slowing the process down: daily photoprotection, a stable weight without repeated swings, and skin kept dense and well hydrated. The difference between two people of the same age, in this area, is almost always a difference in accumulated sun.

Weight is worth a couple of sentences of its own, because it is the most underrated factor in the lower face. The fat pads empty and refill like any others, but the skin covering them does not recover its elasticity at the same speed. Losing and regaining weight repeatedly puts the tissue through cycles of stretching and retraction that accelerate the descent along the jawline — which is to say, precisely where the marionette line is born.

Significant weight loss in adulthood, even when it does you nothing but good, tends to mark this area for the same reason. This is not an argument against losing weight: it is an argument for doing it gradually, and for not spending years going up and down.

There is also a postural detail that almost nobody considers: spending hours with the chin tipped down towards the chest — which is to say, looking at a screen — chronically shortens the distance between chin and neck and does nothing to help the support of the area. It is not the main cause, and no study quantifies its effect on this one mark, but it is a free habit to correct.

The mistakes that make this area worse

Treating the lip area like the rest of the face

This is the most common error by a distance. A concentration of actives that the cheeks tolerate perfectly well, applied to skin with no lipid film and no follicles, produces irritation and flaking. And irritated skin defends itself by thickening and drying out: the result is that the lines become more visible, not less.

The practical rule on this area is that you always scale down: half the dose, half the frequency, always applied over a moisturising vehicle.

Aggressive scrubs

The idea that exfoliating will erase the lines is intuitive and wrong. Perioral wrinkles are etched into the dermis, not the stratum corneum: a mechanical scrub works on a plane that has nothing to do with the problem, and on already fragile tissue it damages the barrier. If you want to work on turnover, low-concentration acids are a far more sensible option than abrasion.

Waiting until it's too late

On this area the useful window opens early. As long as the line is visible only when you purse your lips, you are working on a crease the tissue can still recover from. Once it stays etched at rest, the collagen at that point has already been reorganised, and the results of any treatment — cosmetic or medical — become partial.

This is not an argument for making you buy something in a hurry: it is the reason the same anti-wrinkle routine is worth far more at thirty-five than the identical routine is at fifty-five.

Fillers and toxin: where they fit

It is worth knowing how these work, if only to make an informed decision not to have them.

For lip lines there are two medical options, and they act on different planes: micro-injections of hyaluronic acid that fill the etched line, and small doses of botulinum toxin that reduce the contraction of the orbicularis. On this area the toxin has to be dosed with real caution, because the same muscle is used for speaking and eating. The review by Lorenz (PMID 40550475) discusses the role of both in perioral rejuvenation.

For marionette lines the approach is volumetric: the lost support is restored, often by working further upstream on the cheek and the jawline rather than on the crease itself.

In both cases these are medical procedures, performed by a doctor. And as with any injectable treatment, the quality of the tissue you are injecting into changes the outcome: thin, dehydrated skin makes visible what dense skin absorbs smoothly. Cosmetic work and medical work are not in competition — the first prepares the ground for the second.

Our approach

On this area, unlike the nose-to-mouth fold, a good topical product genuinely has room to work. But it needs to be used in the knowledge that the tissue is fragile.

The Filler-Effect Anti-Wrinkle Serum is the product in the range best suited to lip lines: it works on deep hydration and apparent density, which are exactly the two parameters this area lacks. Apply it by tapping upwards from the lip border, morning and evening, without taking it onto the vermilion of the lip.

For daily use across the whole face, the Anti-Age Moisturising Face Cream brings the antioxidant contribution of Moringa oleifera alongside the moisturising component — the rationale is set out in our article on the moringa face cream with hyaluronic acid. Anyone who prefers an oil-based vehicle in the evening will find moringa oil for the skin a well-tolerated option on thin areas.

Because this area starts with fewer resources of its own, internal support counts for more here than elsewhere. The meta-analyses by de Miranda (PMID 33742704) and Myung (PMID 40324552) converge on consistent improvements in hydration and elasticity with hydrolysed collagen: that is the rationale behind Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and Moringa, which we discuss in hydrolysed marine collagen for wrinkles.

The IN&OUT Anti-Wrinkle Face Treatment puts the two fronts together, and Organic Moringa Oleifera capsules remain the antioxidant base. On the dietary side, the full picture is in what to eat to improve your skin.

If the mark that bothers you sits higher up, around the eyes, the reasoning changes again — we cover that in crow's feet and the eye area.

On timing, there are no shortcuts: collagen renewal is measured in months. Assess at twelve weeks of consistent use, and photograph your starting point — in the mirror, every day, a gradual change is invisible.

Frequently asked questions

Why do vertical lines form above the upper lip?

Because of a combination of three factors: skin that is thin and poor in sebaceous glands, and therefore bad at holding on to water; the repeated contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle, whose fibres insert into the dermis and pull perpendicular to the lip border; and photoageing, on a prominent area that almost nobody protects carefully. Smoking accelerates all three at once.

Do only smokers get lip lines?

No, they appear in people who have never smoked too — the name "smoker's lines" is misleading. Smoking does bring them forward and deepen them, both through oxidative damage and reduced microcirculation and through the mechanical act of pursing the lips thousands of times. The study on identical twins discordant for smoking made that difference particularly clear.

Can a cream get rid of marionette lines?

No. Marionette lines arise from tissue descending along the jawline, which removes the support beneath the corner of the mouth: it is a problem of volume, not of skin, and no topical product lifts back up what has come down. A good treatment improves the density and hydration of the surrounding skin, which makes the crease look less marked, but it does not eliminate it.

Can retinol be used around the lips?

Yes, and it is the active with the strongest evidence on this area, but it has to be introduced gradually because the skin is thin and reactive. Start at low concentrations, two or three evenings a week, applying it after a moisturiser and keeping the product off the vermilion of the lip. If redness or flaking appears, space out the applications. It should be avoided in pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

Does drinking through a straw cause lines on the lip?

It contributes, but it is a minor factor compared with sun, smoking and the age-related loss of collagen. The mechanism is real — pursing the lips contracts the orbicularis and repeats the crease — so on an already fragile area every repetition adds up. It is not the first place to intervene, but if you do it often it is worth cutting down.

How long does it take to see results on this area?

Collagen renewal takes months: a topical treatment should be judged at twelve weeks of consistent use. Hydration gives a visible improvement much faster, within a few weeks, but that is a surface effect that only holds if you keep going. Photographing your starting point is the most reliable way to notice the change at all.