Browlift (Forehead Lift)

Some patients want to have a more youthful or refreshed look in the area above the eyes. A browlift corrects droopy eyebrows and decreases the lines and ridges than can make a person look angry, sad or tired.

Good candidates for this procedure are those who have developed ridges, furrows or frown lines because of stress or genes. Most patients are 40 to 60 years old and want to look younger, but people of all ages choose the surgery.

Some surgeons perform this surgery conventionally with the incision hidden just behind the hairline. Others use endoscopy, a method in which only small incisions are created and the surgery is viewed with the use of a small camera that is inserted into the operative area.

Before surgery, your head will not be shaved, but hair growing right in front of the incision line may need to be trimmed. For most patients, an incision is made starting at about ear level and running across the top of the forehead and down the other side of the head. This is usually behind the hairline so that the scar is invisible. In patients who are bald or losing hair, a mid-scalp incision that follows the natural pattern of the skull is used so the scar is less obvious.

The forehead skin is lifted so that tissue can be removed and the forehead muscles can be manipulated. The eyebrows also may be elevated, and extra skin at the incision line is removed. The skin is closed with stitches and may be covered with gauze padding.

In the endoscopic forehead lift, the same hair trimming may be necessary, but instead of one long incision, the surgeon makes three to five small incisions on the scalp, less than an inch long. A pencil-thin camera, called an endoscope, is inserted into these incisions. A different instrument is inserted through another incision, and the forehead skin is lifted and the muscles and tissues are removed or altered to make a smoother appearance. The eyebrows also can be lifted and secured into their higher position by sutures beneath the skin. The incisions are closed with stitches as in the traditional surgery.

After surgery, patients with both procedures may experience some numbness, mild swelling and discomfort along the incisions. The pain is usually minimal. Sutures or staples are removed about one week after surgery.

Complications are rare, but all surgeries have risks. Some patients have experienced nerve damage that causes them difficulties in wrinkling the forehead or raising the eyebrows. Additional surgery would then be necessary to correct the problem. Any surgery creates scars, but your scar should be nearly invisible in your hairline. Occasionally, a wide scar forms in patients, but again, scar revision can be performed to correct this. In some patients, hair loss can happen along the incision line; this is usually temporary, but sometimes it is permanent.

Most signs of the surgery are not detectable after about three weeks.

Making an Appointment

For a consultation with a Washington University cosmetic surgeon, please call (314) 362-4452.

Other facial treatments.

Other eye treatments.

Disclaimer: The photos on this website are of models, not actual patients.