For most patients it would be unthinkable to want to have smaller lips. Not so in Thailand.

Plastic surgery in Thailand is cheap (which makes it popular). It's also pretty dangerous, with little to no regulation or oversight of services.

A fashion trend in Thailand is for women to 

Lip reduction is an uncommon procedure in the US, but its counterpart, lip augmentation, is a common procedure, with two options in doing so. One is surgical lip augmentation, while thither is through dermal fillers. So far, the only available option in reducing lips is to treat it surgically.

A lip reduction would need to remove skin or excess tissue along the dry-wet line of the lip. The stitches remain to form a "new" lip line (where they either disolve or are removed manually).

In Thailand, they call it “krachap lips” wherein they reshape the lips as if they were buffalo horns with very pronounced curvers. (Removing distal portions of the lip along the vermilion border to achieve an exagerated 'bowed' look.) Lip reduction has been linked to Thai’s superstition of having smaller lips to good fortune explaining why many opt to undergo the procedureThe lips are modeled after actor Patcharapa “Aum” Chaichua. The procedure’s common and immediate side effects are redness, pain, bruising, and swelling. According to some websites, a lip reduction surgery costs anywhere from $800 to $2000 (US).

Despite botched consequences for other patients, it doesn’t stop some other potential patients undergoing the knife for the procedure. Presently, there are no significant studies about lip reduction.

Photos: Dr Apple Surgery/Facebook