Forehead reduction or hair transplant? Large forehead and square hairline. (Photos)

Question

I have a large forehead, and I also inherited my grandfather's very square hairline. In pictures, it throws off the proportions of my face and looks very masculine. I want to minimize the size of my forehead, and round out the sides. Would a hair transplant be a better option or a forehead reduction? Also, are these procedures that can be performed alongside another procedure (such as a rhinoplasty or chin implant) or would you recommend this as a standalone procedure? Thank you very much!!

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

A hair transplant can help lower your hairline and round out the hairline but to understand how it may actually look or to understand realistic expectations, you need to see a doctor in person and have this conversation.
A hair transplant can give you a natural and soft hairline as well as rounding of the temple corners.  Like all cosmetic surgery, how "natural" this may look depend on the artistry of the surgeon. Hair transplant surgery limitation is that the results are not immediate and the growth will not be as "full" as a forehead reduction surgery.If you are considering surgery, it is best to see a doctor in person for an examination so you can better understand realistic outcomes after your doctor has a chance to listen to your exact goals. 
Everyone's goals and expectations are different and seeing a photo cannot determine if you would be a candidate.
You can see an example of a hair transplant surgery results in the VIDEO below.

Bryan Rolfes, MD · Answer

The main advantage of hair grafting is that you don't have a hairline scar.  You will still have a scar, but it will be at the back of your head (the strip method involves a scar at the back of your head and is the method most women choose - there is no scar with follicular unit extraction but you have to shave the back of your head).  The grafts take several months to start growing, then years to reach the current length of your hair.  Unless you plan to change to shorter hair style, this is too long for most women.  Hairline advancement can round out and lower your hairline with full length hair immediately, you just have to deal with an incision across the top of your forehead.  The incision is very obvious for a few weeks, visible for a few months, but hard to find after that.  If you wear your hair down it will cover most of the incision right away.  Most women can wear their hair up at some point, but this takes several months.  If the scar is slightly more visible than you would like you can get a few hair grafts in and in front of the scar to hide it (that is opposed to the thousands you would need to lower your hairline with just grafts).  For most women with long hair styles who want to make a big change to their hairline a hairline advancement is the best option, but there is no wrong answer.  Both will make an amazing difference, it just depends on how long you can wait for the final result.  Find a surgeon who performs both procedures to see which is best for you.  
-Dr. RolfesIt is also common to add other procedures, such as rhinoplasty or facial implants to hairline advancement.  We do not normally do these in conjunction with hair grafts in our practice as hair grafting is done in a procedure room, not an operating room.  You would have to ask your surgeon what their specific policy is.

Parsa Mohebi, MD, FISHRS · Answer

I wouldn't recommend having a rhinoplasty with a hair transplant. Each procedure has specific post op instructions, adhering to both at the same time would be difficult.  An hair transplant would be less invasive than a forehead reduction surgery plus you wouldnt have a large scar on the upper forehead.  However, either can give you good results.

Jeffrey Jumaily, MD · Answer

Based on the photos, you seem like a good candidate for hairline advancement. We do a lot of forehead reductions, hair transplants and combined procedures. Each has their pros and cons. Forehead reduction has nice instantaneous results without the need for recovery of hair follicles at the front (hard to hide initially, and take a long time to grow). The con is the incision but if done by an expert, the incision is very hard to see (see instagram account of recent results). Hair transplant has no visible incision in the front (there is a small incision in the back which is hidden by your long hair) but requires a long time to grow and growth is less predictable. For patients who want more advancement or want the incision to be as hidden as possible (our incisions are really hard to see), we do the advancement but also place some grafts around the incision to make it less visible. Schedule an in person or Skype consultation for more information and specific advice. Best wishes.

Richard W. Fleming, MD (retired) · Answer

Both hair transplants and the forehead reduction procedure can be used to lower the hairline. Although I use both procedures I prefer the Irregular Trichophytic Hairline Incision technique that we described many years ago  for forehead reduction  because it is easier to achieve uniform density and therefore total freedom of hair styling. Hair will grow through and in front of the hairline incision so it is hidden.

Brian Goertz, MD (retired) · Answer

Hair transplantation to improve your hairline by making it more feminine is the best option if performed correctly and artistically. There are less than 100 full time hair restoration doctors in the USA. Do you research well and pick a full time hair transplant surgeon who can show you their results.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

The key to combining surgical procedures is to find a doctor with all of the skills and simply ask the doctor. Nose surgery, can be difficult depending upon what is being done to that some doctor will not want to lose focus by performing too many surgeries in a siingle sitting

Forehead reduction or hair transplant? Large forehead and square hairline. (Photos)

Answers (7)

More Forehead Reduction Questions

WE SEND PRETTY
EMAILS

Answers (7)

More Forehead Reduction Questions

Forehead augmentation, bone burring (Photo)

In need of frontal bossing with forehead reduction/hairline lowering and possible hair grafts. Do I have other options? (photo)

Will my scar heal? I had a hairline lowering procedure June 2016 (photo)

I really hate my receding hairline/high forehead? (Photo)

Hairline lowering surgery, what can I do about scar and hair re growth. (photos)

WE SEND PRETTY EMAILS

WE SEND PRETTY
EMAILS