Rancho Bernardo
Plastic & Cosmetic
Surgery Center

Home | Cosmetic Procedures | Dr Mark Gold | Office

Forehead Lift or "Browlift"

Brow lift is the technical term for repositioning tissues of the upper face. A brow lift restores contours and appearance of a more youthful or fresher upper face and brow, contours which have been distorted by gravity pulling and loosening tissues over time.

As the brows are lifted, the eyes appear more open and refreshed. As part of this procedure, the muslces that created frown lines are weakened in ordercreate a smoother appearing forehead. Dr. Gold will discuss your areas of concern during your consultation and demonstrate the degree of correction you can expect in each area.

A brow lift does not stop the clock. It simply “resets” it. How long a brow lift lasts depends on many factors including the characteristics of your tissues. You’ll notice some loosening within a few months following a brow lift, but you may never regain the degree of your original deformity. Some patients will request a less extensive tightening procedure in 10 years to maintain the best possible appearance.

A brow lift is often combined with other procedures to simultaneously correct other areas such as the lower face or eyelid.

Limitations
Brow lift procedures can be limited by certain characteristics of your tissues. Some examples are:

• Thick, heavy, oily skin
• Sun damaged skin
• Excessive fatty tissue
• Changes in the tissue from previous procedures

The goal of a brow lift is to make you look as good as possible for your age, not necessarily to make you appear twenty years younger.

Dr. Gold will discuss specific limitations with you (if there are any) at the time of your consultation.

Risks
Brow lift procedures involve more risk in smokers. Nicotine causes constriction of blood vessels which supply the skin, reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of skin loss. If you are a smoker, Dr. Gold will make specific recommendations to reduce those risks.

If you have hypertension or high blood pressure, it must be properly controlled prior to surgery. We will coordinate this with your internist or family physician.

There is a very small risk of impairing nerves which control facial movement during a brow lift surgery. Dr. Gold will discuss this in more detail with you during your consultation.

Other risks common to all surgical procedures such as bleeding, infection and scar tissue formation occur in a very small percentage of cases. We encourage you to discuss any concerns you may have during your consultation.

The Operation
Incisions for a brow lift are carefully concealed within the hair in the area of the temples, and generally across the corona of the scalp. The scalp hair is not shaved during surgery. Dr. Gold will discuss specific incision locations with you during your consultation.

To reposition your forehead tissues, skin and deeper tissues of the face are first very carefully mobilized. The deeper tissues and skin are then repositioned in a generally upward and backward direction to reposition and retighten them to a more satisfactory location. In the frown area, the coragator and procerus muscles are cut in order to weaken your ability to frown. After redraping the skin and soft tissues, excess tissue is removed and the incisions carefully closed.

Recovery In General
Recovery from plastic surgical procedures is generally very rapid, and varies slightly from person to person.
All of your incisions will be carefully closed with stitches . You’ll be able to wash your hair the next day. You’ll feel some tightness in the forehead area following surgery. This assures that you’ll have the best possible long-term result. Most of the tight feeling resolves in the first two weeks.

The Stages Of Recovery
Our patients usually want to know about four stages of recovery: hospitalization time, when swelling or bruising is resolved, when they’ll be able to return to work or social activity, and when they can return to full aerobic or strenuous exercise.

For face and neck procedures, the average hospitalization time: Brow lift surgery is performed as an in office procedure. Dr. Gold has a fully accredited surgical suite in his office for your convenience. No hospitalization is required.
Bruising and swelling resolve: 5-10 days
Return to work, social activity: 10-21 days
Aerobic or strenuous activity: 14-21 days
We encourage immediate return to full normal activity immediately. Just don’t do any type of strenuous exercise that would push your pulse over 100 for about two to three weeks. Any aerobic activity that increases your pulse over 100 also increases your blood pressure, and could make you bleed.

For PDF printable version of this information please click here

 

Call 858-451-3060 for your complimentary consultation.