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Nasolabial fold: Difference between revisions

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Fold anatomy and procedures
 
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Descriptive body; This wiki's view: hitch the cheek
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The '''nasolabial fold''' is the crease from the alar base toward the corner of the mouth. Everyone has one when they smile. “Fix my nasolabials” in looksmaxxing usually means the crease is '''deep at rest''' — a combination of cheek fat descent, skin crease, and a maxilla that does not hold the midface forward.
The '''nasolabial fold''' is the crease from the alar base toward the corner of the mouth. Everyone has one when they smile. In looksmaxxing the complaint is usually a crease that is '''deep at rest''' — some mix of cheek-fat descent, an etched skin line, lost medial cheek volume, a hypermobile smile, and sometimes a recessed [[maxilla]] that does not hold the midface forward.


Filling the crease is the mill move. Lifting or supporting the '''cheek that folded onto the crease''' is the grown-up move.
[[Marionette lines]] (down from the commissure) and [[jowl]]s are often packaged with it as “lower face.


== What makes it deep ==
== What makes it deep ==
* Midface descent (malar fat pad slides)
* Midface descent (malar fat pad slides)
* Skin crease / etched line
* Skin crease / etched line
* Deep pyriform / recessed [[maxilla]] — bone, not a syringe
* Deep pyriform / recessed [[maxilla]]
* Loss of medial cheek volume
* Loss of medial cheek volume
* Hypermobile smile (animation fold)
* Hypermobile smile (animation fold)
A recessed midface with a deep fold will still have a fold after [[hyaluronic acid filler]]. You just added a shelf.


== Procedures people use ==
== Procedures people use ==
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|-
|-
! Move
! Move
! What it actually does
! What it does
|-
|-
| [[Nasolabial fold filler]] (usually HA)
| [[Nasolabial fold filler]] (usually HA)
| Camouflage in the crease or pyriform. Easy to overdo; look of “sausage” beside the nose.
| Volume in the crease or pyriform. Camouflage. Can bulge beside the nose if the cheek is still sitting on the fold.
|-
|-
| [[Cheek filler]] / lateral malar
| [[Cheek filler]] / lateral malar
| Can lift the fold by putting volume ''above'' it.
| Volume ''above'' the fold; can reduce how much cheek hangs onto the crease.
|-
|-
| [[Fat grafting]]
| [[Fat grafting]]
| Same idea, surgical harvest.
| Same idea as cheek volume, with surgical harvest and unpredictable take.
|-
|-
| [[Screw thread]] / [[mono thread]] in the crease
| [[Screw thread]] / [[mono thread]] in the crease
| Collagen in the etched line; modest.
| Collagen in an etched line. Modest effect on a static crease.
|-
|-
| [[Cog thread]] midface
| [[Cog thread]] midface
| Hitch the cheek; duration limited.
| Hitches the cheek on a vector. Duration typically months to a couple of years.
|-
|-
| [[Midface lift]] / [[deep plane facelift]]
| [[Midface lift]] / [[deep plane facelift]]
| Repositions descended tissue; the honest answer when the problem is laxity.
| Repositions descended soft tissue when laxity is the problem.
|-
|-
| [[Canthoplasty]] / lower lid work
| [[Canthoplasty]] / lower lid work
| Does '''not''' fix nasolabials. Different neighborhood.
| Different neighborhood; does not treat this crease.
|-
|-
| [[Bimaxillary osteotomy]] / pyriform graft
| [[Bimaxillary osteotomy]] / pyriform graft
| Bone. Rarely sold as a “fold procedure”; sometimes it is why the fold existed.
| Bone. Sometimes the reason the fold was deep; not sold as a “fold procedure.
|}
|}


See also [[marionette lines]] (down from the commissure) and [[jowl]]s. They get bundled in “lower face” packages.
== This wiki's view ==
When the fold is from '''cheek descent''', this encyclopedia treats hitching or lifting the midface — [[cog thread]]s for a limited-duration hitch, [[midface lift]] or [[deep plane facelift]] when the laxity is surgical — as matching the problem. Filling only the crease is camouflage: the cheek can still sit on the line. A common combination is a little pyriform or medial-cheek volume '''plus''' a midface hitch, not a sausage of gel in the fold. Recessed bone is a different problem; a syringe does not move a [[maxilla]].


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 23:48, 10 September 2026

Nasolabial fold
Nasolabial fold
Nasolabial fold marked (Wikimedia Commons)
Field Face
Also known as smile line, laugh line, nasolabial crease


The nasolabial fold is the crease from the alar base toward the corner of the mouth. Everyone has one when they smile. In looksmaxxing the complaint is usually a crease that is deep at rest — some mix of cheek-fat descent, an etched skin line, lost medial cheek volume, a hypermobile smile, and sometimes a recessed maxilla that does not hold the midface forward.

Marionette lines (down from the commissure) and jowls are often packaged with it as “lower face.”

What makes it deep

  • Midface descent (malar fat pad slides)
  • Skin crease / etched line
  • Deep pyriform / recessed maxilla
  • Loss of medial cheek volume
  • Hypermobile smile (animation fold)

Procedures people use

Move What it does
Nasolabial fold filler (usually HA) Volume in the crease or pyriform. Camouflage. Can bulge beside the nose if the cheek is still sitting on the fold.
Cheek filler / lateral malar Volume above the fold; can reduce how much cheek hangs onto the crease.
Fat grafting Same idea as cheek volume, with surgical harvest and unpredictable take.
Screw thread / mono thread in the crease Collagen in an etched line. Modest effect on a static crease.
Cog thread midface Hitches the cheek on a vector. Duration typically months to a couple of years.
Midface lift / deep plane facelift Repositions descended soft tissue when laxity is the problem.
Canthoplasty / lower lid work Different neighborhood; does not treat this crease.
Bimaxillary osteotomy / pyriform graft Bone. Sometimes the reason the fold was deep; not sold as a “fold procedure.”

This wiki's view

When the fold is from cheek descent, this encyclopedia treats hitching or lifting the midface — cog threads for a limited-duration hitch, midface lift or deep plane facelift when the laxity is surgical — as matching the problem. Filling only the crease is camouflage: the cheek can still sit on the line. A common combination is a little pyriform or medial-cheek volume plus a midface hitch, not a sausage of gel in the fold. Recessed bone is a different problem; a syringe does not move a maxilla.

See also

References

Anatomy condensed from standard facial-aging descriptions; Commons file Nasolabial fold.jpg (Mikael Häggström / USAF source), public domain.