You’ve heard of all the common plastic surgery procedures – breast augmentation, tummy tucks, eyelid lifts, facelifts, and others. You know the great results people get from them.
However, you may not have thought about a brow lift. If you are concerned about the appearance of your upper eyelids, a brow lift may be necessary to achieve a natural appearing result.
Extra skin around your eyelids makes you appear tired and older. People often fixate on this. They fail to realize much of the upper eyelid skin is not extra eyelid skin at all. Actually, your sagging brow pushes skin down onto your upper eyelid. This makes you appear stern and angry (whether you actually are or not). That works together with the already tired appearance you have from any extra eyelid skin.
You can notice the effects of a sagging brow most below the tail of your brow where the skin hoods over your upper eyelids. A brow lift targets this area, restoring the arch of the brow and improving the hooding. Your eyes will appear more open and brighter. That “extra” skin on your upper eyelids also appears less. Any remaining extra upper eyelid skin—the true excess—can be removed at the same time with an upper eyelid lift.
The combination of a brow lift and upper eyelid lift will give the most natural appearing result in people with drooping brows.
How a Brow Lift Works
I use several different brow lift techniques and choose depending on your anatomy and degree of brow droop. Essentially, all techniques seek to conceal the scar by placing the incisions along or behind the hairline.
For people with minimal droop, an endoscopic or temporal brow lift with short hidden incisions may work well. For those with a high hairline, the incision is usually placed right along the hairline and is barely perceptible. This technique can even be used to lower the hairline for people with excessively high foreheads. For those with the most sever droop needing a lot of lift, the coronal brow lift is often performed. This involves a longer incision behind the hairline for maximum lifting power.
When performing an exam for facial rejuvenation, I look at many different factors before recommending the best technique for someone. During the exam, I lift the tail of the brow to see if a brow lift would help. In patients who would benefit, you see that a brow lift literally opens their eyes, making them look and feel brighter. The key is lifting the outer brow, not the inner brow. Lifting the outer brow makes people look younger, lifting the inner brow makes people look surprised. It’s also critical to restore the brow to a normal youthful position and avoid over-elevating it. When these important aesthetic rules are followed you can get a lot of benefit from a brow lift. It’s no doubt one of the most underappreciated cosmetic surgery procedures.
Unhappy with your eyes? Dr. Vennemeyer can help. Contact us to set up a consultation today.
