The lip bead (procheilon) is located at the center of the upper lip and is also the highest point of the lip; it is a representation of sexy lips. Apart from esthetic defects, the absence of the lip bead is likely to bare the incisor teeth or tooth crevice, depriving the natural closure of both lips. Generally, such problems arise from congenital lip underdevelopment or hereditary lip shape and in a minority of cases are caused by acquired lip defects from trauma. The correction method is dependent on the severity of lip bead defects. Lips with mild symptoms can be modified by nonsurgical methods, such as the injection of hyaluronic acid or Aquamid, or the injection of autologous fat to obtain temporary effects, which delivers immediate and effective improvement. However, for obvious or extensive lip bead defects, lip bead reconstruction should be considered for radical correction.

Lip bead reconstruction (also called procheilon plastic surgery) sculpts the plump or projected appearance of the lip bead, so the skin around the upper lip is utilized as the surgical material. The method employed by Dr. Chuang is the transfer of V-Y rotational flaps at both sides of the upper lip. First, the skin at both sides of the procheilon is separated as a V incision, and the local lip flap with blood circulation is turned over, transferred and stitched to the central procheilon to sculpt the plump shape of lip bead. This method not only provides sufficient lip flesh for lip bead sculpting but also reduces the skin at both flanges of the upper lip to help remodel the M-shaped lip. The upper lip wound is stitched after lip bead sculpting is completed, and there is no need to remove the stitches. This is currently the most effective and safest procheilon plastic surgery.