New Forehead, Who Dis?

I’ve had a high (big, whatever) forehead for all my life, but as is often the case when you live in a world containing both beauty standards and mean kids, I didn’t think it was a problem until I was called “fivehead” more than a few times. Cool, internalized body shame at a young age: check. Fast forward to adult-ish hood and I’d pretty much mastered the art of styling my hair in ways that would disguise the thing. But once I stopped straightening my hair that camouflaging became harder, and I became self-conscious yet again. I didn’t even know that forehead reductions (or “surgical hairline advancements,” as my doc Jeffrey Epstein calls em) were possible until a few years ago when I randomly searched “how to make forehead smaller.” Ever since then I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I’d one day get this procedure done, and after a bunch of obsessive googling, internet research, and light stalking of former patients who’d undergone the procedure themselves (with their consent of course; I’m not a monster), that day finally came.

I chose Dr. Epstein because he’s in the top of his field. These SHAs are basically all he does now, and if you’re lowering, what, 5-10 foreheads a week, you probably know what you’re doing, right? His staff was as friendly as any other I’d contacted, the price was what I expected, and Dr. Epstein himself said I was a good candidate. I appreciated that he provided the photo consult for free even though I eventually opted to pay $200 for a FaceTime chat as well, just to see if I’d feel comfortable with him as my doctor. He was personable, no red flags, so I decided to move forward. By the time I was ready to make an appointment I was told that his fees had increased by about $1,000, but when I reminded the office of my original quote Dr. Epstein said he would work with me which I appreciated. I ended up getting put on the standby list for $7,800. (Standby means what you think: no real appointment is set but the office will call you when there’s an opening—about a week ahead of time.) The $200 I paid for the FaceTime consult was ultimately applied to the total procedure cost. About ten days passed from my being placed on the list to my securing a date for the procedure.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how quickly things moved. The day of the procedure the office was very busy and I waited for a few hours (while fasting!) which wasn’t great, but like my partner reminded me, we were in a plastic surgeon’s office in Miami—I should have expected the bustle. Everyone was busy doing their respective jobs and I wasn’t neglected, just left in a room for a while while being told periodically, “it’s really busy!” All good. My partner got Fiji water so that was a plus. They didn’t have coffee, though. One demerit. I don’t feel like anyone went particularly out of their way to make the experience fantastic (I honestly don’t think they would have had the bandwidth to), but the different staff members were kind and friendly when we did interact: I really appreciated Roxy not only stepping in to introduce herself to me but also her fabulous look that was color-coordinated down to the nail polish; Valery’s sweetness carried over from the previous night’s phone call to when she brought us back into the consult room to wait for the doctor; Lidia was nice to chat with.

The facility itself is a bit small and unassuming—nothing fancy going on there—which aligned with the whole experience. I When I finally went back to get prepped for surgery, it was over as soon as it started. Guess that’s what anesthesia’s good for. I woke up in a daze speaking Spanish. I did feel a lot of anxiety post-op (I have anxiety independently of getting surgery, so no surprise that I almost went full panic-attack), and wish I had been more vocal about that because I was left mostly alone again to recover from the anesthesia and wait for my partner to return and pick me up. I admit that it was my anxiety, in part, making it hard to say “hey, I’m kinda freaking out!” but such is the nature of the beast. If the least enjoyable part of getting your head sliced open is the bit where you cry a little by yourself in a small recovery room trying not to hyperventilate, then I consider it a success.

All in all it’s been two days and I’m very happy so far. The anesthetist checked up on me via text post-op, as did Dr. Epstein. Visually, I’m floored by the results. Of course there’s still a lot of healing to do and I’ve taken that into consideration with my ratings. I’ll continue to update as things move along.

Pain-wise, the back of my head really hurts, I have a black eye, and some facial swelling. The incision site doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would, but the head and neck area in general does. I don’t think that I could be back to the real world in 3 days (as I’ve seen recommended as a possibility). But maybe I’m a huge baby. Doubt it, but if foreheads can be made smaller then really anything’s possible. Oh, and the numbness on the top of the head is the craziest thing. If sensations were movies this one would be American Psycho based solely on how unpleasant and unsettling it is mixed with the fact that there’s no turning away!

If there’s anything else you want to know, please comment and I’ll try my best to get back to you. This community made it possible for me to get this procedure and I hope to pay that forward. I’m very grateful not only for RealSelf and the amazing folks here willing to share their experiences, but all of Dr. Epstein’s office. THANK YOU!

Getting some new bruising around my left eye today and still feeling a bit sore and headachey. Incision site's looking good, though. No indication yet of what scarring will be like, if any. Still, no regrets and will update again when I get stitches removed next week. Only wish is I would have done this sooner so that I could be fully healed by now.

I made three weeks on Thursday, July 29. The scar seems to be healing well and isn’t very visible, especially when I wear my hair out. I still wake up with a puffy face from swelling in the night, the numbness is still wild (makes scratching my head and washing my hair really awkward!), and the incision site is still buckling in some places. I’m getting what I think are some ingrown hairs along the incision which are irritating as hell, and there’s very slight hair thinning along the incision as well. Pics to show.