Brow Lift Q&A

70%

WORTH IT RATING

51 Reviews

Ask a Question

View Before and Afters

Average Brow Lift Cost: $7,504

Learn about Brow Lift

257 people and 422 doctors are talking about Brow Lift

Get Free Email Updates

Forehead Numbness After a Brow Lift?

asked 3 years ago by newself in brooklyn, new york
Latest answer by Robert E. Zaworski, MD
Question viewed 6,937 times
Tags: forehead

I've had an endoscopic brow lift along with an upper and lower eye lift. It has been 10.5 months and I still have numbness on the right side of my forehead, and the eyebrow is slightly lifted. The area under the eyebrows seems to be thicker or swollen, even though my doctor says that it's impossible at this time. I have tingling sensations in my forehead, my eyebrow area and between my forehead, which I'm told is a good thing to feel. I just want to make sure, is everything okay and will things eventually get better for me?

17 answers to Forehead Numbness After a Brow Lift?

Numbness after Brow Lift

It is common to have areas of numbness after brow lift due to stretching and swelling of nerves. Nerves are slow to recover, sometimes taking as long as 1-1/2 years from the time of injury. Lightly touching or stroking the area of numbness can help stimulate the nerve's return to normal.

Paul C. Zwiebel, MD
Denver Plastic Surgeon

Numbness after brow lift may last a year

Numbness in the forehead following a browlift generally last 2-6 months. Sensation in the crown may take longer to recover (10-12 months). The degree of any injury (bruised, stretched, or cut) to the main sensory nerves (the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves) may prolong these general recovery times. If you're feeling tingling sensation, this may be an encouraging sign that your nerve is recovering and you'll regain sensation.

Corey S. Maas, MD
San Francisco Facial Plastic Surgeon

Tingling and Nerve Injury

Thanks for the question - It is unusual to have numbness on your forehead 10 months after endo brow lift. Sometimes the trochars or the dissection can stretch the nerve. These injuries will usually resolve on their own. A nerve called the supraorbital nerve provides sensation to the forehead and scalp. (You have one on each side that arises from the level of your eyebrow. If you push with your finger at about midbrow you can actually feel the hole in your skull that this nerve exits (the... more

Steven H. Williams, MD
San Francisco Plastic Surgeon

Browlift and forehead numbness

During a browlift the forehead nerves that begin above the eyes may be bruised or stretched. Like your foot going to sleep when your leg is crossed, you may experience very odd sensations or numbness. Usually, given time, the nerves will begin to recover and the strange sensations will cease. It may take over a year, however.

Randy J. Buckspan, MD
Austin Plastic Surgeon

Forehead numbness after browlift

It is possible that the nerves that supply sensation to the forehead were stretched or otherwise injured during the surgery, and that the tingling sensation you are experiencing indicates there may be some return of function. You should probably allow more time for any additional recovery to occur.

Olivia Hutchinson, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

Brow lift and nerve damage

There are two nerves that run under the brow that supply sensation that run a risk to be damaged from a brow lift: The supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves. There are several things that can happen during surgery to these nerves: 1. The nerve may be cut completely: When this occurs there is usually permanent numbness that does not change over time 2. The nerve may be stunned: When there is manipulation of the nerves, sometimes they can get irritated and shut down. Over time... more

Chris Thiagarajah, MD
Washington DC Oculoplastic Surgeon

Numbness after a brow lift with tingling

Your numbness and tingling is due to the fact that during your procedure the supra trochlear and orbital nerves may have been cut or stretched. Occasionally it takes about 2 1/2 years for feeling to come back and often it does not return. Your tingling is a sign that the nerves are regenerating feeling. This sensation is described as parasthesias.

Gary H. Manchester, MD
San Diego Plastic Surgeon

Numbness after a brow lift

Brow lifts are an extremely popular and effective way to reposition the brow and smooth the forehead. It is possible to have some swelling and numbness in the brow after the surgery. This is usually due to the nerves of the forehead having been stretched. Your sensation should return in several months. At this time it is too early to perform any corrective procedure.

B. Pat Pazmino, MD
Miami Plastic Surgeon

Give it some time

There are some studies which have shown that it can take up to two years for nerves to recover in the forehead. It's important to find out if there are any treatable causes. For example was there a suture (stitch) placed or a device that may be compressing the nerve? Other than that there is no intervention of which I am aware that can repair these nerves as they are of extremely small caliber. The tingling may be indicative of nerve recovery but only time will tell.

Otto Joseph Placik, MD
Chicago Plastic Surgeon

Brow Lift Recovery

It is very common to experience numbness after a brow lift. Be patient and follow up with your surgeon as recommended.

Robert E. Zaworski, MD
Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

Numbness after a brow lift is normal

It is normal to have a long period of numbness after a brow lift, lasting anywhere from two months to more than a year. The numbness is often due to pressure, tension or bruising of your nerves during surgery or by undermining of the skin which is to be expected. It can take this long to recover. The tingling sensation is a good sign; it means your nerves are starting to return to normal. Research the Tinel's sign and you can get a sense of why tingling is a good sign—return of... more

Larry S. Nichter, MD, MS
Orange County Plastic Surgeon

drnichter.com

Numbness in the forehead can take sometime to resolve

Numbness in the forehead can take sometime to resolve. Nerves often get stimulated and this can lead to dysfunction for a variable amount of time. At 10.5 months, this would start to get me thinking though. Nerves can grow about 1mm a day and you can calculate how long that will take to regenerate. At 10 months this seems long enough time for the nerves to grow back. Tingling would indicate that the nerves are starting to come back as well. Nerve regeneration can... more

Philip Young, MD
Bellevue Facial Plastic Surgeon

Forehead Numbness after Brow Lift

It is not uncommon to have some transient numbness or altered sensation after an endoscopic brow surgery. Although the sensation often returns within several months, I have certainly seen cases where it took much longer to fully return (even up to 2 years). In those cases, however, a gradual change in the sensation was reported--from total numbness to a tingling/pins and needles sensation to normal sensation. Usually, the skin closer to the eyebrows recovers sooner than the part of the... more

Haresh Yalamanchili, MD
Houston Facial Plastic Surgeon

www.belagecenter.com

Numbness after a brow lift

The numbness from the endoscopic browlift is probably permanent after ten-and-a-half months. If the eyebrow is slightly lifted one higher than the other, it will probably remain so at this point. Full healing has occurred ten-and-a-half months after the surgery. Tingling sensations in the forehead are actually a good sign, indicating that the sensory nerves may be coming back.

William Portuese, MD
Seattle Facial Plastic Surgeon

www.seattlefacial.com

Numbness in the areas described at 10 months sounds like nerve injury

The nreves to the forehead are of two types: Sensory nerves that tell you when something touches your forehead, senses cold and hot and senses sharp. These nerves come from the area around the upper inner eyebrow to give sensation to the entire forehead and the top of the scalp. Injury to these nerves can be partial or complete. If it is complete, the sensation may never come back and you may feel tingling in the forehead and the area of the injury may swell to form round bumps called... more

Robert M. Freund, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

Time Will Tell

It sounds like the nerves were injured during the procedure (stretched, bruised, cut, etc), which is not uncommon. The tingling is a sign that the sensory nerve is regrowing, and that in time (upto 2 years or even longer) you should regain most if not all of your sensation. The asymmetry of the eyebrow height may or may not improve with time, and depends on etiology. I would strongly recommend that you look at your preop photos to check for asymmetry. Even though we try hard to correct... more

Scott E. Kasden, MD
Dallas Plastic Surgeon

Sensory changes after brow lift

It is very unusual to have long term sensory losses of the forehead after 10 months. This can be the result of a direct injury to the sensory nerves that supply the forehead or from very contused nerves during the procedure. If you are getting tingling sensations, then perhaps the symptoms are improving. If the sensory tingling is not "moving" up your forehead with improvement, then you may have had a permanent inury to the nerves.