Midwest Eye Care Institute

Brow or Forehead Lift

A larger number of patients are referred for eyelid surgery, and evaluation of their face reveals that they actually need their eyebrows or forehead re-suspended, rather than eyelid surgery. One of the most noticeable features of aging is drooping of the lateral aspect of eyebrows.

There are important differences between the shape of the female brow, as compared to the male brow. The female brow tends to arch upward over the bony orbital rim, exposing the underlying bone structure, whereas the male brow tends to be lower and flatter, and hides the underlying bone structure.

You really cannot assess the eyelids properly without taking brow position into account, and unfortunately attempts to remove “excessive” eyelid skin, when a brow lift was really required, can make future correction of the problem not possible.

Over the years there have been a number of different surgical procedures performed to correct the brows. Older methods required a large scalp incision, which resulted in numbness and hair loss. Newer methods involve the use of the endoscope, and more conservative skin incisions.

Although endoscope brow lift can be an excellent method to lift the brow, it can result in lifting the hairline, and has been prone to relapse, and recurrent brow droop. Other issues with the endoscopic brow lift include the placement of screws and deeper planes of dissection, which sometimes result in increased bruising and discomfort.

The Mini Brow Lift and Short Scar Lateral Brow Lift (SSLBL)

The Mini Brow lift and the Short Scar Lateral Brow Lift (SSLBL) are both open techniques, which use a subcutaneous (just below the skin) plane of dissection, and both procedures address many of the short falls of the endoscopic procedure. The Mini Brow lift and SSLBL differ only in location of the incision within the hairline.

The procedure can be performed under local anesthetic with sedation, and generally takes approximately 45 minutes. The incision is relatively short, and can be hidden within the hairline, and if constructed correctly will allow for the hair follicles to grow across the incision site, resulting in excellent healing. The position of the hairline is left unaltered, and it does not result in elevation of the hairline, which can be an undesirable look in many patients. The technique does not require the use of surgical drills and screws, and eliminates drilling into the skull. The Mini Brow Lift and the Short Lateral Brow Lift should not be confused with the older coronal brow lifting procedure, which required a much larger incision and deeper plane of dissection.

Both these brow lifting procedures (Mini Brow and Short Scar Lateral Brow), which use a subcutaneous plane of dissection and differ only in the placement of the incision, have been found to achieve excellent lift with sustained longevity.