Can your philtrum get longer?

The philtrum is the groove from the base of the nose to the upper lip. Its length is set by the maxilla and the soft tissue of the lip, and in a young adult it is structural: no routine, exercise or tongue posture shortens it. Over the decades the lip itself changes, getting longer and thinner, and the visible red of the lip tends to narrow. That is the slow change people notice when comparing photos years apart. Sun damage and smoking speed up skin ageing generally, so daily sunscreen is the cheapest way to slow the skin side of it.

Lip fillers and lip-lift procedures exist and change the read. BecomeTen never recommends surgery such as a lip lift. Fillers appear in a plan only if you opt into injectables, and are flagged for a professional; the potential score never assumes surgery.

• Expression. A smile shortens the philtrum; a slack, slightly open mouth lengthens it. A neutral, closed mouth is the honest baseline.
• Lip fullness. A fuller upper lip raises the red border and shortens the apparent philtrum. Dry, thin-looking lips do the opposite.
• Moustache. It covers the groove entirely and redraws the lower third. This is grooming with no studies behind it, but it is the one lever that fully changes the read.
• Camera pitch. A lens below eye level lengthens the philtrum on camera; above eye level shortens it.
• Chin. Fat that blurs the chin makes the philtrum read longer by comparison.

The philtrum only means something next to the chin below it and the midface above it. It is part of the lower third, so should facial thirds be equal covers the bigger picture, and a long philtrum also makes the midface read longer, as is the midface ratio important explains. The free facial thirds calculator shows how the lips divide the lower face from one eye-level photo.