Brow Lift Procedures

FINANCING

There are three common ways to perform a brow lift.

Endoscopic Brow Lift

An endoscopic brow lift has the advantage of leaving only small scars in the hair bearing scalp. Usually 3 or 5 of these short incisions are used to elevate the brow. Another advantage is that the muscles that cause wrinkles between the 2 brows can be removed with this technique. This can significantly improve these wrinkles permanently. Endoscopic brow lifting first became popular in the early 1990's. Some plastic surgeons feel that some skin excision is necessary to maintain a brow lift in its elevated position, therefore, they have switched back to the short scar technique.

Short Scar Brow Lift

The short scar technique is the most common. It utilizes 2 incisions on both sides of the scalp. Each incision is 1-2 inches in length and is placed either at the hairline or within the hair-bearing scalp. The hairline incision has the advantage of lowering the hairline slightly. The incision within the scalp has the advantage of a hidden scar. It must be pointed out, however, that the hairline incision becomes almost undetectable.

Coronal Brow Lift

The most aggressive brow lift is the coronal incision. The incision extend all the way across the scalp from one side to the other. This is the most effective way of correcting severe brow sag especially within the medial brow. Effective removal of wrinkle causing muscles can be performed. The obvious downside is the long incision. Another complication is the loss of sensation to the scalp posterior to the incision. This is why this technique is done only when there is severe brow descent.

All 3 methods involve repositioning of the brow superiorly. As with all of plastic surgery procedures, excellent results can be achieved with each method. The results depend on the experience and technical abilities of the plastic surgeon not the brow lift technique used.

Temple Lift

The temple lift does several very important things in terms of rejuvenating the upper face. It lifts the outer corner of the eye. This dramatically improves the hooding of the outer eye that often makes you look sad even when you are not. It raises the outer part of the eye brow creating a very elegant look. In fact, it can often replace a brow lift completely. Finally, it removes the crow’s feet that are caused by excess skin.

Correction of crow's feet with temple lift and upper eyelid surgery

How do I know if a Temple Lift would help me?

Shaping eyebrow arc The best way to see if a temple lift would benefit you is to elevate your temple and see if you like the look. Simply, place the finger tips of your index, middle, and ring finger right at the hairline of your temple and elevate it gently; not too much because this will over correct. Chances are this will dramatically create a more youthful, elegant appearance.

Using the CustomLift® custom face lift approach, Joseph T Cruise, MD routinely performs both an upper blepharoplasty and a temple lift at the same time. This rejuvenates the entire upper face. Best of all, both can be easily done under local anesthesia without pain.

Brow Position

With aging and loss of facial volume, the brow routinely drops down. Sagging of the brow is almost never uniform. The outer part of the brow almost always sags more than the inner part. See if this applies to you. If only the outer part of the eye brow has fallen (which is often the case) then a temple lift is the best choice for correction.

If the entire brow has fallen, then a brow lift may be necessary. I say “may” because the CustomLift® approach prefers to correct the problem at its cause. Often the brow falls because the upper eyelid/brow area has lost significant fat.
The loss of fat volume causes the brow to descend and the upper eye to look hollow. The best way to correct this is to perform a temple lift to raise the outer brow and to replenish the lost volume with either fat or a soft tissue filler.

Example of one sided brow sag. Right brow corrected with brow lift. By correcting the cause of the problem, facial rejuvenation looks much more natural.