Question
I am a 57-year-old male from Minneapolis and I have awful worry lines across my forehead. How do I know if I should get a forehead lift as opposed to a facelift? Do they have the same effect?
Answer
Worry lines across the forehead are usually due to the skin laxity of the forehead and brow that develops over time. In addition, some patients have acquired a pattern of expression in which the forehead muscles are contracting and giving a more elevated appearance to the brow and associated with that are forehead wrinkles. A facelift will do virtually nothing for forehead wrinkles, and a forehead lift or brow lift is the appropriate technique to alleviate this concern. We did a study several years ago on our brow lift patients and found that they were very pleased that now the brows are elevated, but the depths of the forehead wrinkles were greatly reduced and that this result lasted over several years. In addition, as the brows descend the forehead muscle reflexively contract to hold the brow in a more normal position, and this muscle contraction can create increased horizontal forehead lines. Once the brows are repositioned, if there is a pattern of expression in which the muscles stay contracted, Botox can be very helpful adjunct to then relax these lines once the brows have been stabilized in a more appropriate position.
