Will I Have a Large Forehead After Brow Lift?

Question

Will traditional brow lift, leave me with a large looking forehead? I would want to have excess skin removed from forehead area. This would make my forehead look more in line with the rest of my face. Is that something that can be done?

	I guess the Dr. would have to take a strip of skin off the forehead. Would they do what's called Mattress stitching? This was done when I had both upper & lower eye lids done. I had no scaring from the stitching or any sign's of anything being done.

	I’m not really concerned with the scaring; it’s the large looking forehead I am concerned with. Again, thank you for your help.

	ICIrisheyes

Ross A. Clevens, MD, FACS · Answer

Incision placment determines hairline after browlift. The traditional bicoronal forehead lift where the insicion runs from ear to ear across the top of your head will RAISE your hairline, making your forehead 'bigger.' An endoscopic browlift, which is performed through tiny keyhole incisions behind the hairline, generally will NOT alter your hairline much, if at all. A hairline or tricophytic browlift where the incision is made along the frontal hairline woll LOWER your hairline. Your facial plastic surgeon should take into consideration the shape and position of your hairline in determining which type of browlift is best suited for you.

Richard D. Gentile, MD · Answer

What you are asking is whether or not your hairline will be elevated thus giving the forehead a larger surface area.  This will vary according to the incision placement and the technique utilized.

Daniel Reichner, MD, FACS · Answer

Yes, you are right -- a traditional coronal brow lift will elevate your frontal hair-line and make your forehead look larger. You may be a candidate for a hair-line brow lift where a strip of forehead skin is removed along the hair-line. This will decrease the apparent size of your forehead - which sounds like what you want. 
Of course the trade-off is a more visible scar that runs along the frontal hair-line.  If the scar is created properly and you heal well the scar can be hard to notice.  However, some patients can develop alopecia (hair loss), hyper/ hypo pigmentation or thickening of the scar. 
I recommend that you seek consultation with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon to discuss the treatment options.

Frank P. Fechner, MD · Answer

Your concern is an important one to discuss before a browlift. I assume that you are female; browlifts in men requires an entirley seperate discussion.
Most browlift techniques (i.e. endoscopic browlift, coronal browlift) with raise your hairline. Because a somewhat high hairline is actually common also in women, approximately 80% of our browlifts will leave the hairline constant and lift the brows hereby effectively decreasing the height of the forehead. This procedure is called a trichophytic (hairline) browlift.
Sometimes, hairline lowering can be achieved by advancing the scalp forward. It is a little more work for the surgeon but can be very valuable.
The scar line after these procedure heal very well if planned and sutured meticulously.

Steven Wallach, MD · Answer

There are many variation to perform a brow lift. If you have a high forehead to start with, a pre-hairline incision can be performed anteriotly to keep the hairline where or it is or even lower it a bit as the upper brow skin is removed.

Will I Have a Large Forehead After Brow Lift?

Answers (8)