Do Men Actually Find Lip Filler Attractive? I Asked The Guys In My Life—Here’s What They Said

Once considered an anti-aging procedure to restore a youthful glow, dermal filler is now trendy among 20-something women to boost their appearance. Made up of hyaluronic acid, a substance naturally produced in your skin, dermal filler was introduced to the cosmetic surgery scene to add plumpness back to aging skin, reduce fine lines or wrinkles, and improve sagging and volume without a facelift. Dermal filler, in the form of lip filler, is becoming increasingly popular, but there’s debate if lip fillers actually look as attractive as the standard seems to imply.

So I opened the floor up to some of my guy friends and had them participate in a little experiment where we tried to determine who has had lip fillers, if they look better before or after they got a bit of work done, and whether or not guys actually care about big lips at all. To keep their identities anonymous and make sure I get the most candid answers, I won’t disclose any names or use pseudonyms. On with the experiment!

So…Has She Had Lip Fillers?

Olivia Munn is gorgeous today, was gorgeous yesterday, and will likely be gorgeous tomorrow. She has routinely denied cosmetic procedures on her lips, stating that she has only had Invisalign braces and that her talented makeup artist is to thank for her perfect pout. While no one other than Munn herself can confirm what work she has had done, some people speculate that the lips she has today look a lot plumper than they did in her earlier years in the spotlight.

So what did my guy friends think? Mostly all of them said no, citing her bright lipstick as the reason for her bigger lips. One went so far to say that her lips looked swollen, but the general consensus was that her lips aren’t filled.

“If she's had it, she had it done right. This is either an example of good lip filler or the natural look that lip filling is supposed to emulate,” said one of the guys.

Dua Lipa once came under fire for potentially photoshopping baby pictures to make her lips look larger, but frankly, it would appear that she has actually had larger lips most of her life due to her Kosovo Albanian heritage. That said, her naturally plump lips would appear to be larger than they were in years past. Perhaps that’s due to her overlining her lips, but perhaps it’s filler after all. 

Most of my guy friends were certain she at least has filler in her bottom lip, with one guy even suggesting that her bottom lip looks botched.

“The top lip has a normal natural shape, but the bottom does have an inflated look,” said one of the guys. While it’s anatomically common for your bottom lip to be bigger than your top lip, the protruding pout was dramatic enough for my guy friends to vote Lipa’s lips as filled.

Based on Her Lips, Is She Prettier on the Left or Right?

Next, I moved into “Before and After Photo” territory using photos that online celebrity plastic surgery accounts have put together to show how celebs' faces magically change over the years despite denying getting any work done. 

If your sister spearheaded the lipstick brand that thrust the overlined lip look into fashion like Kendall Jenner’s sister did, you might be able to get away with shooing away lip filler rumors. Whether she’s actually donning a Kylie Jenner Lip Kit product or not, there’s no denying that Kendall Jenner’s lips look a bit different than they used to, especially when you look at 2022 photos compared to the earlier 2010s. 

But instead of asking the guys if they thought Jenner had work done, I asked if, based on her lips alone, they thought she looked prettier on the left or the right. Interestingly enough, it was an even split down the middle! 

“I think both look nice. You don’t necessarily have to have the slightly larger appearance as she does on the right to look nice, but it does add a little [to her face] and makes her lips a bit more noticeable without being over the top,” one guy said.

Another guy went so far as to say that overdoing lips is “disgusting” and dissed the overlining trend that Jenner may be guilty of (if it isn’t filler), saying that “getting rid of pencil lips is a plus for women’s faces usually.”

Next up was Blake Lively, who many online rumor mills speculate has only ever had a rhinoplasty. That said, Lively in 2005 had a much more prominent lower lip in comparison to her upper lip, and in 2022 both lips are much more similar in size. What’s interesting about Lively’s looks over the years is that if she has had work done she has chosen to do so very conservatively, going for minor tweaks instead of following dramatic trends.

The guys recognized this and overwhelmingly voted that Lively looks best on the right in her “After Photo.”

“It’s a very modest addition that probably wouldn’t be obvious unless you had the side-by-side comparison,” said one of the guys. Another one praised her look as tasteful and not overdone.

A former Disney Channel star, Dove Cameron ditched her innocent, girl-next-door charm for dyed hair, more dramatic makeup, edgy clothing, and…a new face? Some people online have speculated that despite being in her mid-20s, Cameron has had a few procedures done already. Though she hasn’t admitted to any procedures, one of the most glaringly obvious changes from the beginning of her acting career to today is how her lips were once much thinner.

While one said that she looks perfectly nice in both images, most of my guy friends thought Cameron’s natural beauty traits on the left were prettier than what her alleged new face looks like on the right.

“She overdid it, and it doesn’t look natural or good,” one guy shared.

Are Big, Pouty Lips a Turn On or a Turn Off?

The verdict is in: Unnaturally thick lips are a turn off for men. A few of them admitted that they think big lips are a turn on but only if it comes naturally. With how sneaky some good cosmetic procedures can be, you’d have to wonder whether or not guys can really tell if fillers and injections have been used to achieve a puffier pout.

“I just ask that the lips look natural whether they're big or small. What I hate about lip injections is that they make lips look fake and weird and uncanny. Big pouty lips are fine, I guess, if they retain a natural appearance,” said one of the guys, exclaiming that he thinks overfilled lips resemble a grouper fish.

Interestingly enough, one of the guys I spoke to admitted that he’d actually prefer to kiss a girl with almost no lips than one with thick, filled lips. 

So pouty lips might be out, but what about a bit of conservative work? I next showed the guys a “Before and After Photo” straight from a cosmetic surgery Instagram account and asked if the woman’s new lips look natural or overfilled.

Most of the guys noted that while her lips don’t look as natural as they did before, they didn’t think that they’d be able to detect any work done if they randomly met her on the street.

“I prefer the left but the image on the right doesn't bother me as much as some post-injection photos do because they've at least retained their natural shape instead of turning both the upper and lower lips into big plump sausages,” stated one of the guys.

What Do Guys Think about Injections for a Filled Look in General?

If you’re interested in having your lips done up a little bit, but you feel self-conscious about how a guy might perceive you, you should first consider whether or not you’re considering a procedure for yourself or for someone else. Ultimately, it’s your body, and if there’s something you’d like to change about it, only you have the power to decide if it’s time to make a change.

Whether or not guys approve of their girl having lip fillers is really a mixed bag. Quite a few of the ones I spoke to said that the physical protrusion of filled lips, no matter how much filler was used, makes women look like fish or that the unnatural lip-to-face ratio can be distracting.

“I believe they don’t need injections, and that injections can take away from the natural beauty women have. They are also a slippery slope, and can lead to women having more work done striving for the impossible ‘perfect look’,” said one guy.

It’s easy to brush away that “slippery slope” warning, but just think about the plastic surgery rabbit holes that people fall into. With a lot of young Hollywood celebrities such as Dove Cameron, as discussed above, you see them allegedly start with maintenance-heavy cosmetic procedures like lip injections. Soon after, their cheekbones look higher and more defined (filler again or cheek implants), their upper eyelids appear upswept and any hooding is gone (either a fox eye lift, brow lift, or Botox), and their foreheads are free from any early wrinkling (maintenance Botox). So if these girls are in an industry that expects perfection from a young age and they have the financial means to achieve it, it makes sense that they do it.

That said, we don’t all have Hollywood budgets, and most of us aren’t under intense media scrutiny. This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever consider a cosmetic procedure if you truly feel like it will help your self-confidence, but you should be aware of how easily some people become addicted to the knife. 

“If lip injections are not excessive it can look nice, but being too excessive looks bad. But overall it’s not super necessary, many girls can often look nice naturally,” admitted one of the guys. 

Those who were cool with lip filler echoed these same sentiments that some people, in the genetic lottery, have smaller lips naturally and filling them a bit to still be within a natural size is “very pretty” and “tasteful.”

Some guys thought that women with naturally smaller lips could fill them a bit to still look natural and pretty.

“If they got little peckers, then a little bit doesn't hurt. But they shouldn't look like pillows,” one of my guy friends stated.

Here’s the thing though, we’re all our own worst critics! We see flaws that no one else probably does, and guys will be the first ones to tell you that.

“Please, women, don’t get lip filler no matter how ugly you think you are because in reality, you’re probably just fine and not ugly at all! Also, lips are the last thing that men worry about.”

What Do You Need To Know About How Safe Injections Are?

From Juvederm to Restylane to Perlane and more, lip augmentation procedures are more popular now than ever before, to the extent that the dermal filler market might hit a $10.3 billion global valuation by 2030. 

Recently, people have shed light on the fact that lip filler can actually migrate to different areas outside the injection site if not injected properly by an expert. This is incredibly important to know, considering the rise of DIY lip filler techniques like the Hyaluron pen, which forcefully pushes a dose of hyaluronic acid filler into your lips like a gunshot. 

Trained, board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatologists understand the different layers in your skin, where your muscles sit, and which type of filler works best to achieve a subtle look. You might have thinner lips as a result of your genetic heritage or from the natural aging process, and you might just want to have a perkier pout to boost your confidence.

If you’re seriously considering filler, you should know that they only last between a year to a year and a half, so you’ll likely need maintenance injections on a yearly basis. If you’re young and have a high metabolism, your body might break down the fillers faster too, which means you’d be looking at anywhere from $500 to $1,000 every single year for upkeep.

While lip fillers have a low risk of side effects and can be dissolved if you’re not in love with the look, you should know what some of the common risks are. As mentioned, filler can migrate into other areas of your face. Additionally, you might end up with an asymmetrical look, you risk infection, bleeding, or other pain and tenderness at the injection sites, and in a worst-case scenario, you could experience tissue death from lip filler being injected around or into an artery.

Closing Thoughts

As is the case with any cosmetic procedure, you should really feel certain it's right for you before you make any changes that could be permanent. Lip fillers can be dissolved, but there are other complications that could arise that can last for a long time.

Furthermore, if you’re basing your interest in a lip augmentation on whether or not a guy might find your potentially smaller lips attractive, you should know that most guys really appreciate a woman’s natural beauty traits. From my little experiment, I’ve come to the conclusion that if men are cool with procedures and tweakments, they prefer a subtle look, but it’s ultimately a toss-up whether or not they realize any work has been done at all!

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