Can I Get Cosmetic Plastic Surgery to Flatten my Forehead?

In order to "get to" the frontal bone area beneath our brows, the best access is via a forehead or browlift incision. This can be either bicoronal (from ear to ear through the hair) or at the anterior hairline if one wants to lower a too-high hairline (reducing the height of the forehead). In your case, the hairline incision provides the best approach to treating both your prominent frontal bossing and your high hairline.

Though the bone over your frontal sinuses can be thinned only a certain amount (without additional techniques to ablate the sinuses, which can indeed be done if necessary, but at additional time, cost, and slight risk), this is something that can make really wonderful changes in the right patient. Any board-certified plastic surgeon or facial plastic surgeon with experience in craniofacial techniques, facial fractures or reconstruction, and cranial bone graft harvesting and use, is quite comfortable with contouring the bone for you. I operate in an accredited in-office surgical facility and own the bone tools to do this procedure, so a hospital or academic surgeon is not required, just someone who does this operation frequently. 

As mentioned elsewhere, the hairline closure (tricophytic) is critical to minimizing the scar, which can be visible as it heals, but is concealed by growing hairs and fades beautifully if skillfully performed.

BTW, bone grafting or methylmethacrylate onlays can be performed as well in select individuals to improve the bony contours of the forehead. Go for it, and best wishes!

In most cases, the best way to flatten the forehead and lower the hairline at the same time is going to be through a trichophytic incision placed along the frontal hairline. This will allow access to the bone of the forehead (which can be reduced only by a limited amount), and allow the hairline to come down somewhat through a hairline or scalp advancement. This would work well for a female. In a male patient, the incision would need to be altered in many cases.There are a variety of doctors who will perform this technique, but generally a facial plastic surgeon who is also trained and experienced in hair restoration is going to have the most experience with these types of procedures. Be sure to see an expert.

Hi, This is a procedure that can be performed by a plastic surgeon. It is fairly common to perform this surgery for those that have transitioned from male to female, as a male forehead is typically very prominent. Going to a surgeon with experience in this population would be helpful. Best of luck!

Generally facial plastic surgeons offer the type of surgery you are considering.  It is possible but you need an examination to make sure you are a candidate.

Yes, forehead contouring and hairline lowering can be done within the same operation. We routinely perform this type of surgery in our practice. Recovery is about 2 weeks by you need to be here for 1 week only for me to remove the sutures 

Depending on the person, we have variable thickness to the frontal bone.  Some of it can be burred down, but, unfortunately, most people with the "crowmagnon man" look is from a hyperaerated frontal sinus.  This can be tough to fix and still make it look natural.  Make sure you chose someone who not only understands the forehead and brows, but also understands the frontal sinus anatomy and the way it drains.  Because of the frontal sinus location, you do have some limits as to how far down you can burr the bone.  As far as brow position is concerned, if you are a man, the best incision would be through a wrinkle in your forehead (mid-forehead).  If you are a woman, a bicoronal or trichophytic incision should work well.  

A tricophytic browlift (what my fellow commenters have also been describing) will allow the hairline to be lowered. The cautions regarding visible scars have been mentioned. Seek a facial plastic surgeon who is familiar with the tricophytic approach and knows where the place the scar and how to bevel the incision to provide maximum camouflage to the scar. The approach would also allow the forehead contouring that you seek.Stephen Weber MD, FACS

The forehead can be altered by burring the frontal bone.  This requires a preoperative CT scan to determine the anatomy of the frontal bone, knowledge of facial anatomy, and the ability to remove the precise amount of bone for reshaping.  Most commonly this occurs in male patients seeking less prominence of the glabella, which can create an overly prominent brow ridge.  

In some patients the hairline can be lowered, but this procedure is limited by the mobility of the scalp of the patient.  Counseling on the location of the scar in front of the hairline should be done with the patient, and in male patients this procedure should be done only in select instances due to the hair and likely changes to the hairline associated with male pattern baldness.

Frontal hair line can be very easily lowererd. Most importantly, the result should remain proporitional and natural in comparison to other facail features.

Lowering the bone of the forehead is possible but requries precise planning with CT Scanning.

Hope this was helpful

Any procedure that would flatten, or reduce the convexity of the forehead involves contouring the frontal bone.  The frontal bone is a very thick, diploic form of bone which can be amenable to some degree of contouring, but only under very specific conditions: 1) a preoperative CT scan to assess bone thickness and position/size of the frontal sinuses, 2) a Surgeon who is well versed in craniofacial work, 3) a Patient who has reasonable expectations; understanding that the procedure may be limited in the results that are safely possible.