Your Questions
Your Questions
Q : I am a 55 year-old male and am bothered by low hanging brows. It makes me look angry all the time and I am actually a good-natured and upbeat person. It seems my eyebrows are falling off of the brow bone and they look so heavy. My mother had a facelift and browlift several years ago and I am wondering if this would work for me.
A: While a man can aesthetically tolerate a lower brow position than a woman, there is a point when the brow descent is too excessive. When the eyebrow is below the brow bone, the look that is created is a perpetual scowl or frowning. At the least, it makes the size of the eye look small and the forehead look very long.
Browlifting in men poses unique challenges that are not present in most women. The lack of a well-defined and permanent hairline with good hair density makes the options for a browlift more limited and less effective. Browlift scars are not easily hidden and the risk of visible scarring is beyond just a theoretical possibility. None of the hairline or scalp approaches that are most commonly used for lifting the brows are worthy of that scar trade-off. In some cases, an endoscopic approach can be used but it stills creates small scars that can be visible through most men’s hair patterns.
There is a mid-forehead incision approach to a browlift but it requires a man to have a deep and prominent horizontal wrinkle in which to use. The scar with this approach takes a long time to settle and the redness to fade. While effective, this central forehead scar should be reserved for a few select patients.
This leaves the eyelid or transpalpebral approach as the only browlift option without the risk of adverse scarring. The eyebrow is lifted and sewn back up to the bone through an upper eyelid or traditional upper blepharoplasty incision. It is not as effective as a ‘superior-based’ browlift but the risk of adverse scarring is eliminated.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana