Brow and Forehead

As the upper face ages, the brows drop and forehead wrinkles appear. The ideal female brow is located higher above the bony orbital rim than the ideal male brow, and has some degree of arching laterally. The male brow should be at or above the bony rim and is lower and straighter than the female brow.

With aging, the brows drop and push eyelid skin downward creating a tired or angry look and hide the upper eyelid under folds of skin. Raising the eyebrows restores a more youthful appearance to the eyes and upper face. This is often a critical part requiring correction during any procedure to improve aging eyelids. Furthermore, the amount of upper eyelid skin requiring removal during blepharoplasty is often dramatically reduced after brow elevation.

There are several options to accomplish brow lifting. The simplest, a direct brow lift, involves excising skin immediately above the brow which lifts the brow and leaves a small scar right at the upper brow hairline. It works great and is relatively easy and cheap, but does leave a small scar which, while occasionally invisible, usually requires light make up to hide.

A forehead lift raises both the brow and the forehead and is done through incisions in the scalp where the hair hides the incision. Through this approach, both the forehead and frown muscles can be divided which reduces forehead and frown line wrinkles. The exact placement of the incisions can be varied depending on the desired placement of the forehead hairline such that this can be raised, lowered, or left the same. The forehead and brows are raised to the desired position, the excess skin removed, and the incision closed. This is a bigger and more expensive procedure than a direct brow lift, but also corrects more of the aging process of the upper face and the scar is hidden. Recovery is very easy with minimal to no pain, but most patients have some degree of headache the first day or two. The patients usually return to work within one week and bruising is usually minimal. There is almost always some numbness in the scalp behind the incisions which usually resolves in three to six months.

Variations on brow lifting also include endoscopic lifts where minimal elevation is required, and mid-forehead lifts which are exclusively for males with deep forehead wrinkles and the risk of balding which could later expose a hair-bearing incision.

While all of these procedures are done on an outpatient basis, you would need to discuss these options with your surgeon to decide what would best meet your needs.

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Direct Brow Lift









Forehead Lift