Nasolabial folds: causes and treatment options
What causes them
Everyone has nasolabial folds. They are anatomy, not damage — the boundary between the cheek and the upper lip, present from childhood, and visible on anyone who smiles.
What changes with age is the tissue above them. As facial tissues thin out, lines become etched around the nose and mouth and the cheeks look a little hollow. The cheek fat pad loses volume and descends, and it comes to rest on top of the fold, deepening it into a shadowed crease.
This is why the fold gets deeper even though nothing has happened to the fold. The problem originates a few centimetres higher.
Treatment options
| Option | How it works | Results appear | Lasts | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cheek filler | Restores mid-face support so the tissue stops resting on the fold. Usually the better first move. | Immediate | 6 months – 2 years | At Beauty Factory SD |
Direct filler to the fold | Fills the crease itself. Effective for a residual line, but overdone it flattens the natural cheek-lip boundary. | Immediate | 6 months – 2 years | At Beauty Factory SD |
Microneedling | Improves skin quality along the fold. Adjunct, not a primary treatment. | Weeks, over a course | Maintained with repeat sessions | At Beauty Factory SD |
Wrinkle relaxers | Not a treatment for this. Nasolabial folds are volume, not muscle movement. | — | — | — |
Facelift | Repositions descended tissue. The definitive answer to significant laxity. | After healing | Years | Not offered here |
What we would recommend
Support the cheek first. Restoring volume where it was lost lifts the tissue off the fold and softens it from above, which looks like your face rather than like a filled line.
If a crease remains after that, a small amount of hyaluronic acid filler placed directly in the fold finishes the job well. Doing this step first — and doing only this step — is the most common way nasolabial treatment goes wrong: the fold flattens, the cheek stays hollow, and the mid-face reads as heavy.
Juvéderm® and Restylane® both offer formulations suited to each of these placements, and which one you get depends on the depth and the tissue, not on a menu.
What it won't fix
No filler will erase a nasolabial fold, and you would not want it to. The fold is a normal anatomical boundary; a face without one looks wrong in a way that is hard to name but easy to see.
Filler will not fix significant skin laxity or jowling. If the tissue has descended far enough that the fold is a fold of hanging skin rather than a shadowed crease, adding volume adds weight, and the honest answer is that a surgical lift addresses what an injectable cannot.
It will not stop the process. Volume loss continues, and maintenance every six to eighteen months is the realistic expectation rather than a one-time correction.
What we use for nasolabial folds
Common questions
Should the filler go in the fold or in my cheek?
Usually the cheek. The fold deepens because mid-face volume has descended onto it, so restoring support above the fold addresses the cause. Direct filling of the crease is often a finishing step rather than the first one.
Will Botox help nasolabial folds?
No. Wrinkle relaxers work on lines caused by muscle movement. Nasolabial folds are caused by volume loss and tissue descent, which is a filler problem, not a relaxer problem.
How long will the result last?
Typically 6 months to 2 years depending on the product used and on individual skin types.
How much swelling should I expect?
Mild bruising or swelling may be present for up to a week, and depending on the patient and treatment, minor swelling and bruising can last up to ten days. You can resume normal activities but should avoid extreme physical activity until swelling settles.
Stanislav Zayets, MD
Board-certified — American Board of Internal Medicine
Last reviewed August 7, 2026
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