Is It Possible to Shave off the Ridge in my Forehead?

Question

Thanks for the responses to my previous question. Saw the doctor and scheduled revision surgery for next week. After reviewing before and after x-rays it looks as though the native bone above the ridge was burred and reduced contributing to the indent.

	My question is can the center of the forehead be shaved to eliminate the ridge? Is the skull thick enough or is it too dangerous to which the only option is to implant more HA to smooth it out?

Anil R. Shah, MD · Answer

Forehead contouring can take place with a variety of techniques which includes:Reshaping forehead boneUse of HA pasteUse of Forehead ImplantsA CT scan can be helpful to determine the thickness of your bone to ensure that there is an approprate margin of safety.

Otto Joseph Placik, MD · Answer

The surgeon evaluating you would be the best source of reference after reviewing the CT scan. There are many options ranging from burring down the remaining bone to using bone cement or HA paste as you have mentioned. This may need to be repeated if resorbed.

Toby Mayer, MD · Answer

One would have to see the xrays to determine how much bone is left, how much the adjacent bone could be shaved, and how thin the remaining bone would be, etc.

William Portuese, MD · Answer

The frontal bone can be shaved down with surgical burs. One must be very careful not to over shave the bone in the frontal area due to risk of exposing the frontal sinuses to skin flora, which could lead to chronic sinus infections. So only areas of solid bone can be contoured.

Steven Wallach, MD · Answer

Reducing the forehead prominence can be performed with a burr but has to be done judiciously based upon CT scans or x-rays to determine the thickness of the bone. Underneath the anterior frontal bone is the sinus. If the sinus is invaded it can lead to infections and future problems.

Is It Possible to Shave off the Ridge in my Forehead?

Answers (5)