The Browlift: What to Expect

As people get older, they tend to experience a certain furrowing in the forehead, including wrinkles and lines that can contribute to an aged appearance. This typically begins to happen around the age of 40, though it can happen earlier if certain factors are at play. The correction for this, surgically speaking, is the browlift. Good candidates are anyone who is experiencing these types of problems with their forehead area and is in otherwise good health. In some cases, a doctor will perform the procedure along with a hair transplant if it is needed, as it can correct the hairline.

The procedure itself is usually performed on an outpatient basis, which could be a private clinic or a hospital. The doctor should be an experienced plastic surgeon with specific education and residency in procedures such as this. As an added bonus they can be board certified, proving they have the requisite training in this delicate field. Anesthesia used will vary from doctor to doctor. The procedure has been performed under both general and local anesthetic. The surgery itself will rarely take longer than two hours.

There are a couple of methods commonly used to do a browlift. One is usually just called the conventional lift, which will be discussed in more detail below. The other is called the endoscopic method and it is similar to the first procedure, except that it generally requires a smaller incision and patients will have reduced scarring and healing time. For these reasons, it is growing in popularity, but the conventional lift is still the most commonly performed version of the surgery in clinics across the country.

In the conventional browlift, the doctor will make a long incision, usually around the hairline so that the resulting scar will be as hidden as possible. The cut will go from one ear to the other which will allow the doctor to pull up the skin of the forehead and access the tissue below. At that point any excess tissue will be taken out and the muscles will be manipulated and moved as needed. Any extra skin will be snipped away and the doctor will lift the eyebrows to their new position. Following this, the skin will be sutured back into place and the recovery can begin.

If you are interested in having a browlift, contact a good plastic surgeon near you and discuss the possibilities available to you. The initial consultation is often free and is a good chance for you to ask any questions you might have about the procedure.