How Can My Forehead Horns Be Reduced?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in forehead recontouring. As you can tell from the pictures I’ve provided, I have two prominent structures protruding from my forehead which gives the appearance of two “horns.” I would like to know if it’s possible to “shave down” these bulges for a more natural look; they are completely bone in structure that began forming when I was around 11 years old. I’m particularly interested in how the procedure might be carried out and the approximate cost of the surgery. Thank you in advance. 

A: Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. Your forehead shows two symmetric areas of frontal bossing. This is to be differentiated from frontal osteomas. Osteomas can be a source of forehead ‘horns’ and they represents a growth of new bone that usually has a well-defined separation or edge from the underlying forehead bone. This makes it fairly easy to separate it with an osteotome through an endoscopic technique from two small scalp incisions. Frontal bossing projections are different in that they are expansions of the natural frontal bone itself rather than just new bone growth on top of it. Thus they must be burred down and can not be done with an endoscopic osteotome technique but rather requires more of an open incision placed back in the scalp to do the forehead contouring. They can be very easily burred down to a perfectly smooth forehead contour but requires more of an approach to do it.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana