Forehead Lifts, For A Youthful Look In Middle-Age

For people who are well into their years but still want to look almost twenty years younger, surgery may be the best option, especially if the focus of concern lies in the sagging skin on the forehead area. Wrinkles are skin sags with deep depressions, and with a forehead lift, you too can get rid of those frown and laugh lines once and for all (or at least for the next few years).

A forehead lift is an invasive procedure which improves or corrects the skin sag on the forehead, the brow, and the upper eyelids. This is achieved either by removing the muscles and skin on the affected area, or by repositioning them to another location. The procedure may be performed in combination with other methods, like facelifts, nose lifts (rhinoplasty), or eyelid surgery. It is normally done as an outpatient procedure on a plastic surgeon’s clinic, a surgery facility, or a local hospital.

Patients have the option of going through the entire operation in a sedated, waking state; in such cases, local anesthesia is administered. For those who want to sleep through the procedure, general anesthesia is used. Certain sections of hair are held back from the area to be operated on; the hair which lies in the path of the incision may need some trimming, but the entire head need not be shaved. The incision is initially made along the ears, and will be maintained across the top of the patient’s forehead (near the hairline so as to prevent the forehead from appearing too high). The surgeon can opt for a single, mid-scalp incision for balding patients in order to conceal the scar. After the removal of the excess tissues, skin, and muscle mass, the incision is sutured either with stitches or staples. As a final precaution from irritation to the patient’s scalp skin, the face will be washed.

The ideal candidates for the procedure are individuals who are into their middle-to-senior ages (40 to 60), although other patients with inherited conditions can also benefit from it (including those with droopy eyebrows or depressed lines above the nose). For younger patients, a forehead lift may raise a low brow which causes a ‘sad’ look, and in patients with brows low enough to impede vision, the brow lift is performed as a reconstructive procedure.

The patient will have to wear stretchable bandages and sterile padding after the operation in order to avoid bleeding or edema. There is also a degree of numbness or discomfort which may be experienced on the treatment site; this is manageable with proper medication. The head should be kept raised for the next few days to avoid inflammation. Swollenness and bruising may initially occur around the eye and cheek area, but these usually heal out in a few days. As the nerves on the operation site regrow, an itching sensation will replace the numbness, and it may take six months before this feeling goes away. The benefits of the procedure can last for years, and even if the patient opts not to repeat the procedure, his or her appearance will still look much better, compared to his or her probable present appearance if the surgery was not performed.