Treating the nasolabial fold correctly.

What the nasolabial fold is: a skin fold between nostril and mouth corner that every person has – children too when they laugh. It deepens over the years because the cheek fat above shrinks and descends and the skin loses elasticity. The fold itself is the border where the cheek meets the fixed upper lip.

Why filling the fold is often not enough: filling only the fold makes it shallower – but the face stays 'sunken', and with larger amounts a bulge forms that shows when smiling. The more natural way: replace volume where it was lost – in the cheek and at the cheekbone. That lifts the fold from above, often with less material and an invisible result.

When the fold is treated directly: with deep, sharp folds and thin skin, in slim faces without cheek loss, or as a supplement to cheek treatment – then with small amounts of soft hyaluronic acid and a cannula to 'cushion' the fold, not fill it up.

What botulinum toxin cannot do here: the nasolabial fold is not an expression line but a static one. Muscle relaxation does not help – on the contrary, botulinum toxin in this region can disturb the smile. It does not belong here.

Other building blocks: skin boosters improve skin quality over the fold; with very slack skin a surgical lift is the more honest option. The fold when laughing will always remain – and that is good.

Realistic: a softening of 30 to 50 percent at rest is a good result. A nasolabial fold that is 'gone' looks unnatural – and is no goal in reputable practices.