How Is A Forehead Reduction Done?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in learning more about the forehead reduction (hairline lowering) surgery. I genetically have a very high forehead that I’ve always been very self-conscious about. I’m just now learning this surgery exists! I live out of state, so I can’t easily come in for a consultation. How do you handle out of town patients for consults? Can you just use the photos? With that, I’d also like to know the approximate cost of this surgery (or can you estimate based off pictures?). I would appreciate any information you can provide, and please let me know what other information I can provide to you. At this time, email is the best way to contact me. Thank you, and looking forward to hearing back from you!

A: Forehead reduction surgery can be beneficial for those women that have a long forehead,  which almost measures greater than 6.5 cms from the eyebrow to the hairline. Vertical forehead reduction is a skin operation where forehead skin is removed along the hairline and the scalp is advanced in its place. This requires an incision along the frontal hairline and is very much like a reverse pretrichial browlift. The success of the procedure is primarily based on how much natural looseness the scalp has and how much can be surgically created. It is this looseness that allows the scalp to be brought forward. Generally about 10 to 15 mms can be gain in most patients. If the scalp is very tight or the amount of scalp advancement needed exceeds 15mms, then a first stage scalp tissue expander needs to be placed. You can determine how much scalp advancement is needed by taking a mascara pen or lip liner and drawing a line where you want the new frontal hairline and measuring it. Also remember that the greatest amount of scalp advancement is in the middle and becomes less so as it tapers to the sides into the temporal scalp.

We have many far away patients and further discussions can be done by phone or a Skype video consultation. It is not necessary to come in for a separate in-office consultation. The cost of the surgery is very similar to a pretrichial browlift, as I have mentioned, and my office will pass along the cost to you in a separate e-mail in the next few days.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana