Brow Lift (Forehead Lift) Cosmetic Surgery

Brow lift

Brow lifts are an increasingly popular forehead treatment. Brow lift is a cosmetic surgery typically used for reducing creases that appear with age in the forehead.

Most Brow lift patients are between the ages of 40 and 70 who are healthy people seeking a solution to unwanted furrows and deep forehead lines. Others may include younger people suffering from premature aging signs such as drooping eyebrows. Brow lifts may be used in conjunction with hair transplant to treat a receding hairline or baldness; or with fat transfer to create volume; or with blepharoplasty or face lift to achieve a fully satisfactory result.

Surgeon will examine your skin, hairline, and bone structure to determine best approach for your needs. A patient need to make sure to inform your doctor of any problems in your medical history such as circulatory problems, excess scarring, or previous facial surgery, for these conditions may affect the success of your procedure.

The Brow lift Procedures

A forehead lift is performed in an outpatient medical facility, surgical clinic, or hospital. You should discuss the appropriate type of anesthesia with your doctor and the anesthesiologist. A forehead lift usually requires only local anesthesia (awake), though occasionally general anesthesia (asleep). A patient spends about one to two hours in surgery returns home the same day.

Modern Brow lifts are usually performed using one of two techniques. Brow lift may be performed through a conventional-incision method. The classic Brow lift is a somewhat involved procedure that entails some rather radical incisions across the entire scalp from ear to ear. Or, surgeon may use an endoscope tool that acts as a visual guide, which requires a smaller incision. The advantages of an endoscopicmethod can include a smaller incision, no general anesthesia, reduced bruising, quicker recovery time, and less scarring. Very rarely will your head need to be shaved, but you may need to trim down any long hair around the spots the doctor will need to open your skin. People with thinning hair, receding hair, or with no hair at all are still viable candidates for a Brow lift, but your surgeon will have to strategically place the incisions around the natural shape of the bones of the skull.

The Classic Brow lift

The classic forehead lift begins as your surgeon ties your hair back with rubber bands to clear the area around the incision. This first and more traditional surgery involves a lengthy incision along the hairline of the patient beginning at one ear and ending at the other. After the hair on either side of the incision is tied back and the skin on the forehead is carefully separated from the tissue underneath. The skin is then stretched across the forehead and reattached within the hairline by tight stitches and sutures. Some surgeons like to cover the area with surgical gauze and bandages, but that is at their discretion.

While the patient is lying down, the brows sit higher since gravity is not pulling them downward. Two 1 millimeter incisions are made in the brow itself and two other incisions are made in the hairline, directly above the eyebrow incisions. Then a catheter is used to tunnel underneath the skin between the brow and hairline incisions. Sutures are used to hold the eyebrows at the higher position.

Once the skin is open, the surgeon delicately separates the underlying tissue and muscles. This tissue is removed so that the muscles can be smoothed out and altered. The eyebrows are generally lifted and any excess skin around the point of the incision is removed to create a younger, less anxious look. The incision area is closed with special stitches, your hair and face washed to prevent infection, and the rubber bands are removed. Some surgeons elect to cover the area with gauze and bandages, but this option is completely at your doctor's discretion.

Endoscopic Brow lift

A new and revolutionary procedure called an endoscopic Brow lift eliminates the need for a single arching cut across your head by using four or five short incisions in your hairline. Working through these incisions, your doctor inserts a pencil-thin camera under your skin to observe the muscles and tissues underneath. Another instrument is inserted through another incision to remove and smooth out the forehead skin and muscles.

An innovative and less invasive procedure is called an endoscopic Brow lift. Instead of one long incision, the surgeon makes three to five half inch cuts in the top of the scalp, into which a pencil thin scope is inserted. This scope is connected to a TV camera which allows the doctor to see beneath the skin without having to cut it open.

While the camera is inserted into one incision, a surgical tool is inserted into another, and the forehead skin is lifted while the underlying tissues are smoothed out or removed all together. The smaller incisions are then washed and stitched, and depending on the doctor, covered with gauze or antiseptic dressing.

After the procedure, the rubber bands tying your hair back are removed and the small incisions are stitched up and closed. Your surgeon may choose to use gauze and bandages to cover the wounds, but this again depends on the prerogative of your doctor.