• Home
  • Practice Focus
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
    • How I Do It
    • TRIO Best Practices
  • Business of Medicine
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Practice Management
    • Tech Talk
    • AI
  • Literature Reviews
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Career
    • Medical Education
    • Professional Development
    • Resident Focus
  • ENT Perspectives
    • ENT Expressions
    • Everyday Ethics
    • From TRIO
    • The Great Debate
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Rx: Wellness
    • The Voice
    • Viewpoint
  • TRIO Resources
    • Triological Society
    • The Laryngoscope
    • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
    • TRIO Combined Sections Meetings
    • COSM
    • Related Otolaryngology Events
  • Search

Endoscopic Brow Lift: Safer, Easier, and Better for Patients

by Margot J. Fromer • October 1, 2006

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

What patient wouldn’t want three or four very small incisions that heal rapidly with little or no scarring and no residual numbness, compared with a foot-long slice at or under the hairline that takes longer to heal and sometimes leaves a puffed-up scar and/or permanent loss of sensation?

You Might Also Like

  • Mini Facelifts: Newer, Safer Procedures
  • Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: New Patients, New Reasons, New Techniques
  • The Voice Lift: Should vocal fold surgery be considered a cosmetic procedure?
  • Current Controversies in Rhinologic Surgery
Explore This Issue
October 2006

Most opt for the smaller incisions, according to Oscar M. Ramirez, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, both in Baltimore. The endoscopic forehead lift is a much safer operation than the open forehead lift. The risks of infection, scarring, numbness, and hair loss are significantly less compared with the open approach.

Procedural Technique

A brow lift (also called a forehead lift) is done on its own or as part of an upper and/or lower blepharoplasty or a more comprehensive facelift. Its purpose is to rejuvenate the forehead, erase horizontal or vertical wrinkles and frown lines, raise sagging skin, and give a more open look to the face. The skin looks refreshed and younger, especially when combined with eyebrow elevation.

Endoscopic brow lift was first described in 1980, and the technique showed a clear advantage over the classic coronal brow lift, especially in the area of the superior and lateral orbital rims.

Aging and the squinting that results from worsening vision causes muscle constriction around the eyes, said Ricardo L. Rodriguez, MD, Head, Plastic Surgery Division, Greater Baltimore (MD) Medical Center. The brow is thus pulled down and creates an illusion of excessive skin, when in reality there is none. You get the appearance of excess skin from excessive brow movement over time, which creates wrinkles. Sometimes just lifting the eyebrows is enough to solve the forehead problem, but that’s getting ahead of the story.

He described an endoscopic brow lift: The hair is tied back and secured with rubber bands, or it may be trimmed around the planned incisions. Under local anesthesia with a light intravenous sedative, three or four small incisions (about an inch each) are made in the scalp above the hairline, and a 4 mm diameter endoscope is inserted at a 30-degree angle into one incision. The scope has a xenon light source that is connected to a camera and in turn hooked up to a video monitor. The light and camera provide a clear view of muscles and other tissues beneath the skin. Various surgical instruments are inserted into the other incisions.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | Single Page

Filed Under: Departments, Facial Plastic/Reconstructive, Medical Education, Practice Focus Tagged With: brow lift, endoscopy, facial, outcomes, pain, patient safety, plastic, reconstructive, rejuvenation, surgery, techniques, treatmentIssue: October 2006

You Might Also Like:

  • Mini Facelifts: Newer, Safer Procedures
  • Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: New Patients, New Reasons, New Techniques
  • The Voice Lift: Should vocal fold surgery be considered a cosmetic procedure?
  • Current Controversies in Rhinologic Surgery

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

Polls

Do you use AI-powered scribes for documentation?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

Top Articles for Residents

  • Applications Open for Resident Members of ENTtoday Edit Board
  • How To Provide Helpful Feedback To Residents
  • Call for Resident Bowl Questions
  • New Standardized Otolaryngology Curriculum Launching July 1 Should Be Valuable Resource For Physicians Around The World
  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment

    • Rating Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Severity: How Do Two Common Instruments Compare?

    • Keeping Watch for Skin Cancers on the Head and Neck

    • Is Middle Ear Pressure Affected by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use?

    • Excitement Around Gene Therapy for Hearing Restoration

    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment

    • Rating Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Severity: How Do Two Common Instruments Compare?

    • Is Middle Ear Pressure Affected by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use?

    • Otolaryngologists Are Still Debating the Effectiveness of Tongue Tie Treatment

    • Complications for When Physicians Change a Maiden Name

    • The Importance of Time Away
    • Endoscopic Ear Surgery: Advancements and Adoption Challenges 
    • Reflections from a Past President of the Triological Society
    • ENT Surgeons Explore the Benefits and Challenges of AI-Powered Scribes: Revolutionizing Documentation in Healthcare
    • How To: Open Expansion Laryngoplasty for Combined Glottic and Subglottic Stenosis

Follow Us

  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • The Triological Society
  • The Laryngoscope
  • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookies

Wiley

Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 1559-4939