Here’s What It Means If You Have A Cavity Between Your Nose And Upper Lip

#1 Cavity between Nose and Upper Lip

The cavity between the nose and upper lip is known as Philtrum. This cavity is formed as it is the connecting point for three different formation points on the human face. This formation phase usually happens during the third or fourth month of pregnancy.

#2 Philtrum

In humans, the Philtrum is bordered by ridges and is also known as inferonasal depression. It is formed at the place where maxillary processes and Naso medial process meets. They usually meet during the embryonic development process. As these processes fail to fuse in any human being, it results in the formation of a cleft lip and often creates a cavity between nose and lip region.

#3 Lip Lift as a Cure

This cavity might not be of concern to many of us, but women who have a long space between their nose and upper lips often go in for surgical intervention to get this anomaly fixed. These women look older as the upper lip will cover the upper teeth and the lady might look unattractive.

The Lip lift surgery can be a probable solution in such cases. Owing to improved medical techniques, the incision done can be well camouflaged and little scars will be evident. Lip shortening procedure can also be tried in this case. In the lip shortening procedure, an incision is usually made in the lower border of the nose and upper lips.

The strip of excess skin is usually removed from the upper lips area in such cases. The scars then get hidden in the crease that develops below the nose.

#4 Function of the Philtrum

The Philtrum plays a vital role in mammals. It is known to carry moisture from the mouth area to rhinarium or the nose pad. It does so through the capillary action and helps keep the nose wet. It is a known fact that a wet nose pad can smell particles in a better way compared to dry one. This betters the functioning of the olfactory system.

In humans, as in most of the other primates, the Philtrum is a vestigial depression between the nose and upper lip area.

#5 Upper lip Shortening Techniques

Surgical interventions are available for shortening of upper lip region and clearing the cavity between nose and lip region. Some of the most common of these are given below:

Lip Lift Surgery

In this surgery, an incision is made in the nose region. This might sound scary in some cases but people who have undergone the same say that they feel younger by up to 5 years, post this surgical intervention. Asymmetry and hypertrophic scarring might occur.

Lip Advancement Surgery

This surgery can be tried in cases when the upper lip is thin. In this, a small strip of skin can be removed to shorten the Philtrum. Complications, such as asymmetry and hypertrophic scarring can also occur in this case.

NonSurgical Technique to cure Cavity between Nose and Upper lips

A lip lift can also be performed through ultrasonic technique. In this technique, ultrasound energy is used to tighten the skin in the area. The only downside of this nonsurgical intervention is that it takes around 3-6 months for results to show up. Skin shrinkage of minute extent might also occur in lip and mouth region. Frequent touch ups are also required to maintain the look in this case.