How Much Forehead Reduction Can Be Done?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I was Googling under “forehead skull reduction” hoping to find someone that could help my problem. I was almost sure that such kind of procedure did not existed, until I saw your website.

I wish I had known this ten years ago. Back then I was traumatized by all the bullying done to me. It was because of the size of my forehead. Not only in length (high hairline) but also from the side, it was not in proportion. (my forehead skull sticking out more than the rest of my face).\ Because of this problem, I wore a headscarf every day to cover up the abnormal shape of my head.

I was so depressed back then. Luckily I wrote my problems down on a forum, where people advised me to seek help from a hair transplant surgeon. I subsequently got a hair transplant which helped a lot. However, a hair transplant did not solve all my problems. It did lower my hairline, but it did not change my bone structure.

I still would like to have this fixed, even if it is only 1 cm smaller, it will make a huge difference for me. I hope you could help me. I will send some pictures along.

I can not wait to hear from you, i have been waiting for this almost my whole life.

A: Thank you for your forehead reduction inquiry and sending your pictures. What you have illustrated is about a 5 to 7mm reduction in forehead projection which is what its possible given the thickness of the frontal bone. It would be helpful to obtain a preoperative x-ray of your forehead to determine the bone thickness and provide a guide as to how successful the procedure may be. The other key question about the procedure is where to place the incision to do it which can either be aright at the hairline (and moving your frontal hairline even lower) or further back in the scalp. (where the hairline must remain at the same frontal position)

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana