I have a big forehead. What are my options?

There are two types of procedures for lowering a hairline. One is a surgical excision of the upper forehead followed by the downward advancement of the hairline up to an inch from where it was prior to the surgery. To accomplish this, the entire scalp from the frontal hairline to the very back of the crown is lifted up and pulled forward. When this is done by an experienced surgeon, the hairline can often be advanced about 2/3rd – 1 inch if there is enough looseness when this lifting process is done. This procedure is often complete in one surgical session; however, it may not address receded corners of the hairline if the corner recession is significant. A great advantage of this surgical approach is the immediate impact of the procedure on hairline location with healing usually complete in a week or so. Sometimes this procedure produces a scar in front of the hairline, and if this is this is the case, a hair transplant in front of the hairline can address the scar. If there is corner hair loss or if you are a male, a hair transplant lowering surgery is better because of the risk of recession in men with genetic balding is very high. A recession will always reveal the scar from a hairline advancement surgery. The only disadvantage to the transplant is that it takes 6-8 months to fully grow out. For men, a hair transplant is a better procedure because of the risk of hair loss is high and hairline recession will show the scar from a hairline advancement surgery.

The second type of hairline lower procedure is done through hair transplantation. The number of sessions varies by the thickness of the hair. For women with other than fine hair, they might do this in a single session. With finer hair, it often takes two sessions. The time to see the impact of a hairline lowering hair transplant procedure is 7-8 months and if a second session is required, it will take another 7-8 month to wait for full growth. See web-references below for four excellent sets of photos of this process on four women. When done properly, a transition zone is created that makes the frontal leading edge of the hairline soft and what I call a no-hairline hairline.