What is the brow lift and the criteria of candidacy?

A brow lift is a cosmetic procedure to change the appearance of your forehead and eyebrows. With age, we all go through lots of physical changes and so do with the skin. People lose their skin elasticity and skin becomes saggy. Heredity and genetics are also the reason behind the same. People may have separate degrees of aging impacts due to their genetics and health. Yet, most people have saggy and droopy loose skin after a certain age which makes them self-reluctant. The eyebrows and forehead also have aging effects. People can have frown lines, creases on the forehead and sagging eyebrows which makes them look tired, angry or sleepy. Typically, in this situation the brows move down and the distance between eyebrows and eyelids decreases. This leads to a sad, serious and angry overall appearance. 

A brow lift helps the patient to acquire the new contours of eyebrows and lift the forehead area which is why it is also called Forehead lift. This surgical cosmetic procedure aims to give a new youthful and rejuvenated appearance to the area above the eyes. It may be performed for functional reasons when in case the droopy skin of eyebrows and eyelids hinder the patient's vision or someone is having facial paralysis. It is performed on thousands of people every year.

It can be combined with other facial procedures like face lift, eyelid surgery and neck lift. Your surgeon will guide you if you can go for a combination procedure or not. 

A skilled and experienced surgeon can perform this brow lift procedure after developing a personalized approach for you. This procedure has different techniques and your surgeon can decide the most appropriate technique for you depending upon your health, your goals & expectations and most importantly the degree of sagging skin.

Here different techniques of brow lift are elaborated:-

Open brow lift: - This technique is also called Classic or Coronal brow lift. This is not suitable for the people who have thin hair or lose their hair. It is also not preferred when a patient has a high hairline. After giving anesthesia, your surgeon will make an incision which will be from one ear to another on the frontal hairline. With this long incision area, he has full access to reshape the forehead completely. He will lift the skin as required and will remove the excess skin and tissues and also he may realign the muscles. Then your brows are lifted up and reshaped. You must discuss the scar and recovery beforehand with your surgeon.

Hairline brow lift: - This technique is used when a patient has higher hairlines. Your surgeon will make the incisions between the beginning of your hairline and the top of your forehead. Then the forehead is lifted in such a way that your hairline is not pulled back. The incisions are then closed with stitches. Your scar might be visible along the hairline. Make sure to talk about this to your surgeon prior to the surgery.

Endoscopic brow lift: - This technique involves fewer incisions which means it is less invasive and will have less downtime.  You will not have scars issues as incisions will be hidden in the scalp. The surgeon will make small and short incisions in the scalp. He will insert a scope which is a thin tube attached to the camera into one incision. It will help the surgeon to view the inner muscles and tissues on a screen and he will insert another fiberoptic device into another incision in order to make the necessary changes. He will gently release or elevate the brows tissues. Your forehead skin will be lifted and your brows will be contoured. The tissues may be anchored and stitched temporarily or permanently below the scalp. The anchors will keep the tissues under control for several years. 

Lateral or temporal brow lift: - This technique is less invasive out of all. Your surgeon will work only on the outer one-third portion of the brow. This is performed under local anesthesia. Your surgeon will make a small incision within the hair line. Then the outer brow portion will be lifted and contoured. Incisions will be closed afterwards. It will also have less recovery period as it involves fewer incisions.

Mid-forehead lift:-A longer surgical incision is placed within a deep forehead wrinkle, if one exists. Through this incision, the forehead is lifted to the desired height and the brows are contoured. The incision is then closed with stitches, which will be removed in the office. 

The candidacy criteria

Your surgeon will figure out the situation and decide on your eligibility of being a right candidate for brow lift. He will give you some pre-operative instructions that you need to adhere to. This will help you to recover quickly and easily without any kind of complication. 

Your eligibility will depend upon certain aspects which are as follows:-

• You must be able to refrain from smoking and consuming alcohol for a specific period. 
• You must be physically and mentally healthy to bear the trauma of the massive surgery.
• You must have realistic goals and expectations from the surgery.

Your surgeon will analyze some other factors as well. 

• He will consider your age as this surgery is generally performed on the people who are in the 40 to 60 age group.
• He will check your skin type & quality, its elasticity and the degree of sagging skin.
• He may prescribe you some medicines for pre-operative period. 
• He will instruct you to go through some medical and lab tests to better understand your physical condition.
• He may ask you to stop taking any kind of drugs, blood-thinners that can increase the chances of bleeding during operation and recovery.
• He will check on your body healing rate.

In order to develop a customized approach for the surgery he will take the following steps:-

• He will evaluate your forehead area and upper eyelid region. He may take photographs as well.
• He will ask you to make different facial expressions to notice and examine all types of wrinkles and fine lines. 
• He will certainly discuss the most suitable technique with you and will acquaint you with the incisions length, numbers and area. 
• He will have a thorough discussion with you about your recovery period and guide you with all the do’s and don’ts. 
• He will ensure to provide full-fledged knowledge about the possible complications and the effective ways to avoid the same.
• He will give a clear picture of the results of the surgery and the youthful appearance you will acquire.

The procedure and recovery period

The Brow-lift procedure will take about 1 to 3 hours. You may go home after some hours of the surgery or you may stay for one or two days at the hospital. This will be your surgeon’s call depending upon your condition and response your body gave to the medicines. 

Your surgeon will choose the most appropriate technique to perform on you. Your recovery period span will typically depend upon the technique performed.  The treated area will have bandages to minimize the swelling. A small tube could be placed along the incision site to drain out the excess fluid and blood. Your surgeon will remove it at the right time. 

He will give you some instructions to follow for a few days following the surgery to avoid any sort of infection and risks. He will tell you to avoid all kinds of draining activities. He will guide you to sleep in a particular elevated position. To help you to relieve swelling he will tell you to apply cold compression.

During your recovery period, you may experience some swelling, bruising, numbness and pain. He will prescribe you pain-relievers and anti-inflammatory pills.

Your stitches will be removed in 7 to 10 days. Nevertheless, you should start taking a bath when your surgeon allows; till then you must avoid making the treated area wet and take a normal bath.

Result

Your surgeon will allow you to resume your normal activities after 10 to 15 days. Keep in mind that your final results will be clearly visible after 5 to 6 months.

Ensure that you do adhere to all the follow-up appointments with your surgeon. He will be able to check your progress and suggest to you if any changes in medicines or your daily care routine are required.

Aging is an unstoppable process. You will have aging effects after the procedure as well. You may have wrinkles and fine lines after some years but that would not be too deep as it is without the surgery. 

Cost

The average cost of brow lift procedure is $3500 although it may vary depending upon various factors like the chosen surgery technique, hospital stay and anesthesia. 

Nowadays, surgeons have many payment offers; you must ask them for it.

Generally, this cost will not be covered by insurance because it is an aesthetic cosmetic procedure. Yet, it is functional in some cases then you must enquire about it with your insurance company. 

Possible risks

Like any other surgery, brow lift can also have the following complications:-

• Infection
• Pain
• Bleeding
• Anesthesia risks
• Numbness
• Poor scarring

Some specific brow lift risks can be as follows:-

• Asymmetry between the brows shape
• Changes in skin color and sensation 
• Extended hairline 
• Hair fall on the scalp (incision area)

A skilled and experienced surgeon will take all the precautions to avoid all such complications and risks. Therefore you must ensure to choose the surgeon with great consideration.

You will get in touch with all top best surgeons on our page that are experts in their field and make sure to get the most amazing results without any complications. 

Conclusion

Brow lift or forehead lift is the trusted way to overcome the aging issues of forehead region. A patient can easily achieve a youthful, rejuvenated appearance and get rid of frown lines and saggy skin near the eyebrows. It can help you to look active and young rather than looking sad, sleepy or angry.