Nasal Lines · Small Doses · CityLink Mall
Bunny lines are the short diagonal creases on either side of the upper nose that appear when you scrunch your nose, laugh or squint. This page covers what makes them, why some people first notice them after frown treatment, and why any BTX here is small and placed high.
The main driver is the transverse part of the nasalis, a thin muscle across the upper nose. As it contracts it squeezes the sides of the nose, and the skin bunches into short slanting creases, usually running from the inner corner of the eye toward the nose. Scrunching, a wide laugh and squinting into glare set it off; in some people, so does ordinary speech.
A 2025 cadaveric and ultrasound study in Clinical Anatomy found the lines lie over a small triangle with no muscle beneath it, bordered by the nasalis, the procerus, the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (the lip and nostril elevator) and the orbicularis oculi. The muscles around it tug on the thin skin in between, so injection points sit at the muscle borders, not in the crease.
Types
Bunny lines are usually two to several short, slanting creases on each upper side of the nose, often meeting a faint horizontal crease at the nasal root. They are usually symmetrical, show almost the instant the nose moves, and are mostly gone once the face settles. Resting photographs show little here, so Dr Sin Yong assesses the nose while it moves.
Frown lines, by contrast, are vertical and lie between the brows, and nostril flaring in speech is a separate muscle action. Other look-alikes are below.
The Decision
Many people see these creases as part of a natural laugh and leave them. That is a sound decision, not a missed step. Daily sunscreen and a routine your skin barrier tolerates slow the change from lines that come and go to lines that stay.
If you want them softened, BTX, a prescription medicine that reduces the nerve signal to the muscle, is given in small doses high on each side of the nose, at the edges of the muscles pulling on the area and clear of the lip elevator below and the angular vein beside the nose. The dose stays conservative because these muscles also shape your smile. Many people have the nose done alongside the frown and forehead, keeping the upper face in balance; see forehead and frown lines and horizontal forehead lines.
When to wait. BTX is deferred in pregnancy and breastfeeding, with infected or inflamed skin on the nose, with a neuromuscular disease such as myasthenia gravis, with a known botulinum toxin allergy, and until medicines affecting nerve-to-muscle transmission are checked. A long upper lip or gummy smile needs a separate conversation, as those muscles sit beside the nasalis.
When to see a doctor. Have your nose assessed if creases appeared or deepened after frown treatment elsewhere, or if the two sides move differently. Creasing with a new change in your smile or lip needs a medical assessment, not a cosmetic visit.
At Atelier
Filler is not usually appropriate for bunny lines. They are made by movement, the skin is anchored firmly over the nose, and the angular vessels lie close. Nose filler is a separate treatment that shapes the profile. If you have had nose filler or a nose thread lift recently, tell Dr SY before any injection, because the anatomy and the injection risk change.
Safety
Small bruises and tenderness where the needle went in are common and settle. The risk particular to this area is the medicine drifting into the lip and nostril elevator: the upper lip may look longer, one side of the smile flatter, or the nostril may move differently. Nothing reverses this while the medicine acts; it eases as the effect fades. Small doses placed high reduce the chance but never remove it.
Contact the clinic if your smile looks lopsided, your lip feels heavy or will not lift evenly, an eyelid or brow droops, or you have double vision. Difficulty swallowing, speaking or breathing after BTX is an emergency: go straight to a hospital emergency department rather than waiting to reach the clinic.
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