Brow Lift (FOREHEAD LIFT)

The brow position is very important, as it conveys different emotions to the person looking at you. A brow lift is an operation designed to change the position of the brow.

It is important to note that the female and the male brow are quite different. The male brow tends to be flat, whereas the female brow appears to be peaked over the junction of the medial two thirds and lateral third.

The medial brow should never be higher than the lateral brow.

The procedure for a brow lift

In brow lift surgery as I have instructed before it is undesirable to elevate the medial brow. Brow is most often the area of the brow that is best elevated. Obviously, brow lifts are designed to elevate the brow and to relocate it to a more natural and aesthetically pleasing position, however the operation is not 100% predictable, because a surgeon cannot guarantee that the brow will remain permanently lifted by 2-3mm.

When performing brow lifts there are numerous possible operations.

My preference is with an endoscopic brow lift, which leaves a few little incisions in the hair – one in the midline, two on each side of the skull and two lateral scars in the temporal areas. There are numerous techniques for fixation and my preference is with an endotine fixation device, which is made of dissolving material.

The endotine is a triangular piece of dissolving material, which is designed to hook into the bone and on the other side of the anchor device there are a few barbs, which grab onto the soft tissue. The surgeon can adjust the height of the brow with ease and if at first if the position is not correct the surgeon can resuspend the brow with ease. This is unlike the other forms of fixation, which are not as easy to readjust.

The operation takes approximately one to one and a half hours. It is not a painful procedure and is performed as a day only operation. Post-operatively, the swelling is worse at 48 hours and this settles relatively quickly over the ensuing 2 or 3 days. The results should be long lasting.

The open brow procedure

This procedure is rarely performed today as it results in a lengthy scar over the scalp. An advantage of this procedure however, is that the scar can be placed right at the front of the hairline and for people with a high brow, the brow can be shortened by removing skin from the forehead rather than from the scalp. This is an excellent technique in people with high brows who wish to lower them.

The visual scar is well within the hair.

A few final words

With a brow lift there is minimal downtime with recovery and pleasing adjustment to the brow. A brow lift alone can help to alleviate the heaviness around my patients upper eyelids, caused because of the drooping of the brow area. This procedure is great for lateral eyelid hooding.

So in conclusion, a brow lift readjusts the brow position and improves the lateral brow hooding from the soles of the eye. It also improves the upper eyelid as well. It is a fairly simple, quick and relatively painless procedure to perform.