As we age, muscles in the brow and forehead area may becomes thinner and less elastic and the structures supporting it to the facial skeleton become weaker and less able to resist the pull of gravity. One of the earliest signs of aging occurs in the forehead and eyebrow area.
Facial ageing is a gradual process causing the appearance of heavy eyelids and looking tired, when in reality one may not be! Female patients find this most troubling, as there is dropping of the eyebrows and wrinkling of the skin (frown lines, crow's feet, horizontal forehead lines, etc).
Drooping of the eyebrows can also lead to excessive eyebrow skin accumulating in the upper eyelid.This is a result of the constant use of the muscles in the forehead for facial expression.
The term "brow lift" is used to surgical procedure that can dramatically improve a tired or sad look above the upper eyelid and eyebrow region. It is a series of procedures that are used to; improve the position and shape of the eye brows, reduce frown lines, crow’s feet and forehead wrinkles. It is an important eyelid surgery that successfully treated the affected areas.
Brow lift surgery can be performed alone or along with a facelift and/or eyelid corrective surgery. The brow lift surgery also plays an important role in eyelid surgery, as the upper eyelids cannot successfully treat until the brow lift has been completed.
Several techniques are used including placing the incisions within the scalp; a patient was literally scalped as an incision was placed from ear to ear to elevate the forehead and brow.
Forehead wrinkling has been a commonly treated aesthetic ailment with the growing use of BOTOX® and other neuromuscular paralyzing agents.
A brow lift is commonly performed on patients in the 40 to 60 range, helping to minimize the visible signs of aging.
Types of Brow Lift:
There are several techniques to lift the brow. These can be non-surgically (such as thermage) or full surgical correction with the coronal brow lift.
1. Endoscopic Brow Lift
Brow lift can also be done with an endoscope using "smallest" enveloping surgery. During this procedure a 1 cm thick contact lens is placed over the eye to protect the eyeball. An incision is placed on the inside of the lower eyelid. Reason to place a thick contact lens is to avoid the risk of any misfortune to the eye. Surgery is then continued over the cheek bone.
The entire cheek mid-face area is then elevated, and reattached to the corner of the eye, onto the bone. As a result of this procedure, the cheek is lifted in a natural form, and the cheek fat filling makes you feel and look young.
This is an outpatient surgery or can be performed in a hospital also. This procedure takes almost 80 to 90 minutes. After the completion of this surgery ice packs placed over the lower eyelids and cheek of the patient. Bruising and swelling can be expected for up to one week.
2. Temporal Brow Lift
Temporal brow lift procedure is for those patients who find wrinkles at the corners of the eye (crow’s feet) as lifting the temporal brow will flatten the wrinkles as the skin and muscle are placed on stretch during the elevation.
In temporal brow lift procedure two incisions are made of approximately 10 millimeters in a horizontal way parallel to and 1 centimeter behind, the hairline in the temple. An incision is carried deep to temporal fascia, a thickened band that separates the muscle in the temple from the skin.
With the help of specially designed instruments the temporal forehead is then elevated. This procedure can be performed in an office or as in outpatient surgery. This surgery will take almost 40 to 45 minutes. Bruising and swelling can lasts only for 3 or 4 days.
3. Internal Brow Lift
This procedure is used to remove the unwanted excessive upper eyelid skin. In this process an incision is made in the upper eyelid. Careful elevation of the upper eyelid muscle allows accessing the tissue underneath the central and temporal eyebrow.
Then it is unnoticeably closed with absorbable surgical seam which dissolve in 3-5 days. This procedure can be performed in the office or as an ambulatory procedure in an outpatient surgical facility, often combined with an upper eyelid Blepharoplasty.
After 30 minutes of surgery ice packs will placed on eyebrows and should expect to have bruising and swelling for 4-6 days.
Brow Lift Procedure
Brow lift are divided into ‘open’ and ‘closed’ types. Each type has specific indications for its use and many variations on how they should be performed have been described. A less common indication is in the treatment of an excessively long appearing forehead due to a high hairline. The internal steps are essentially the same regardless of the type of operation selected, open or closed.
Closed, or endoscopic, brow lifting uses telescopes to access the forehead from small incisions in the scalp. It is best for those people who have a normal (or short) forehead length and for males with a family history of male pattern baldness. Minimal to no scalp tissue is removed.
In an open type or traditional, brow lifting uses a longer cut in the scalp or at the hairline and removes some scalp or forehead tissue. It is particularly good for patients with "high" foreheads.
Brow Lift Recovery
Most of the patients can go home on the same day of the surgery and for the next 4 to 72 hours you do as little work as possible. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts:
• Apply the cooling packs on a regular basis during this time.
• Keep your head elevated and not to lay flat.
• Avoid reading and watching TV during this period, as there is a degree of visual blurring.
• Do not perform the activity that raises your blood pressure or pulse at least for 72 hours.
Your stitches will be removed after 7 to 10 days. Most of the people apply a little make up to disguise any residual bruising which may be present.
Brow Lift Complications
• Bleeding usually occurs within the first 24-48 hours of the procedure and may require a return to the operating room.
• Infection surgical incisions, even though created in ideal circumstances, can become infected.When appropriate, antibiotics will be prescribed to lower this risk.
• Hair loss there can be a degree of hair loss around the incisions. Although usually transient, it can be permanent.
• Numbness of the scalp this is more likely to occur with behind the incisions. This is more likely with the open procedure.
• Prolonged swelling.
• Asymmetry or unevenness
Brow Lift Cost
As a guideline brow lifts are priced from $11,000 but the cost can vary according to the patients and their problems like the types of the procedure used, the complexity of their case and medical history.
Brow Lift Before And After
