A high forehead is a relatively common feature and is usually an inherited appearance of the hair where the hairline is set somewhat high, thus negatively affecting ideal facial proportions. Relatives in the same family can frequently be found who have a high forehead. Certain conditions such as intensified hair loss or traction alopecia can cause a receding hairline. Traction alopecia is a condition in which the hair falls out specifically from this region due to frequently being under tension from being tied back hard into a bun, plaits, dreadlocks etc. Most often it is women who come in wanting to lower their hairline by a centimetre or two because they are unhappy with the appearance of their hair. Men, too, can be candidates for this procedure if their scalp is flexible enough. A very popular option for lowering the hairline is a hair transplant, which has shown itself to be very effective. However, surgical hairline advancement is a different approach to correcting a high forehead which has many advantages, and the results achieved can be remarkable.
Ideal facial proportions – where the face can be divided into three equal parts
A prerequisite for this procedure is to determine how mobile the scalp is. It is this flexibility that will determine how many centimetres the hairline can be lowered by. The test is done by using two hands to move the scalp forwards and backwards several times. The surgeon can use this to roughly assess how much could be achieved by shortening the forehead. If mobility is not sufficient, greater flexibility can be achieved by doing exercises and massage that the surgeon can recommend.
You can see what the test looks like in this video:
The procedure itself last about two hours and is done under general anaesthetic, primarily to ensure the comfort of the patient. An incision is made along the existing hairline and then the scalp is lifted towards the back of the head in order to free the skin so that in the next step it can then be pulled forwards. The skin is then fixed to the bone in its new position using special small hooks. The excess skin is cut away and the new hairline is completely identical in shape and symmetry to the old one, just moved a few centimetres lower. Sutures are removed after ten days. In the initial days after the procedure, rest is recommended. Some swelling and redness are normal, but pain is minimal or non-existent. This procedure is very often combined with a hair transplant. This can be done at the same time, the same day. In this event, extraction of grafts is first carried out from the donor site using the FUE technique. After that, surgical forehead reduction is carried out. The last part of the procedure is to make the incisions into which the grafts will be implanted. Usually the grafts are implanted in front of the hairline incision in order to additionally conceal it (although it is a thin line in any case), or they are implanted in the temporal region (the temples) in order to frame the face even better. As with every hair transplant, it takes some 9-12 months for the transplants to grow and for the final results to be seen. A hair transplant can also be performed several months after the forehead reduction procedure.
Surgical advancement of the hairline has been used as an option for forehead reduction for a number of years now. Hair transplantation is an excellent method, but it some cases it can require a large number of transplants (up to 1500 grafts) in order to fill out the entire region. Some patients do not have a large donor site that can supply this number of transplants. Surgical hairline advancement is a shorter procedure, the results are visible immediately, it allows for forehead reduction of up to 3-4 cm and recovery is quick and straightforward. The ideal approach combines both of these procedures, where the hair transplant is a small, supplementary procedure to further refine and improve the results. The incision from a forehead reduction heals very well and leaves no noticeable trace of the procedure. That is why this technique is very effective and allows for permanent and completely natural-looking results.
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