Hi, thanks for using healthcaremagic for your health related queries. Elyn cream contains eflornithine as its active ingredient. It is found to reduce hair growth and development and hence useful mainly for the management of unwanted facial hair. With this background, we can say that it does not clear already grown hairs instead it will slow down the rate of new hair growth where it is applied so you have to clear them manually very very less frequently. But for this effect to be observed, you have to wait for at least seven to eight weeks and for maximum result, treatment has to be continued for a year at least. So, to conclude the answer, you can use Elyn cream to decrease the growth of upper lip hairs but it will take time for its effect to be observed and for immediate result you can remove upper lip hairs manually. As far as effect of Elyn cream is concerned, there is no difference between its use before or after hair removal. NOTE:- I would also like to advice you on one more thing that please discontinue use of Elyn cream when you expect to become pregnant or during pregnancy and breast feeding as there are no controlled safety data in human pregnancies but some animal studies have revealed evidence of birth defect in babies when this drug was used during pregnancy. Hope this will satisfy your query.