Forehead contributes to 40% of facial beauty
Taiwanese celebrity Patty Ho and Hongkonese actress Angelababy are recognized as Asian beauty icons. In fact, we can attribute 40% of their facial beauty to the good-looking forehead. Ancient Chinese used to describe beautiful women with a rounded forehead and slender eyebrows or picturesque eyes and eyebrows, which emphasize the forehead as a beauty feature.
Gorgeous forehead brings delicate elegance in the eye and eyebrow area
The forehead and eyebrows make up the upper one third of the face, which is a major contributor to facial aesthetics. Forehead cosmetic procedure with mid-face lift impact may extend the cosmetic effect further to the upper two third of the face. Therefore the influence of forehead on the overall facial aesthetics should not be underestimated. It is interesting to note that many people are not aware of this significance and even think it is better to have the unappealing forehead covered with bangs, which instead veils the divine elegancy in the eyes and eyebrows. That's why many physiognomic experts suggest the forehead area not covered because it may affect one's fortune.
Dr. Hsieh had many patients who wish to improve their face shape and/or features. Most of them were not aware of having certain forehead problems (such like uneven forehead, prominent brow ridges, sunken temples and drooping in eyebrows, mid-face, upper eyelids and/or outer eye corners) and didn't know about the forehead cosmetic treatment can improve the overall facial beauty and attractiveness.
A perfect forehead is composed of 4 elements
A perfect forehead is composed of 4 elements: 1) Round and voluminous forehead: a smooth-curved forehead contour without any unevenness; 2) Smiling eyes: well-proportioned eyes and eyebrows with the outer eye corners turned a bit up; 3) juvenile hairline: receding hairline enlarges the forehead and makes one look older, which can be treated with forehead reduction to move forward the hairline without additional hair transplantation; and 4) no drooping: sagging eyebrows, mid-face, upper eyelids and outer eye corners are common signs of aging which impairs facial beauty. Thus forehead contouring performed on elder patients usually combines facelift, rejuvenation and wrinkle treatment.
Now many people choose to fill the volume-deficient areas of their uneven forehead with collagen or autologous fat injection. However it is hard to achieve an ideal voluminous forehead contour only with fillers as the underlying bone structure remains unchanged. Besides the cosmetic effect of the fillers goes away with time. The patients need to have the fillers injected every 12-18 months or even shorter time. The money and time spent on long term maintaining a perfect forehead contour with fillers can be more than expected. In particular, autologous fat injection is more suitable for breast or mid-face augmentation. Comparatively the forehead area has less surface area and tighter overlying skin where the transplanted fat cells may not get enough free space and/or sufficient nutrients and oxygen supplied from blood to survive. As the fat continues to be reabsorbed into the body, the original volume of the treated area may disappear in 10 months.
So the appropriate way to treat uneven forehead is to reshape the frontal bone by shaving off the excessive part and filling the depressions with bone cement1. And the drooping skin problems should be treated with facelift.
Shorter surgical duration and recovery time enhance the safety of forehead contouring
Many people worry about the forehead contouring surgery has long recovery time and leaves scar. In fact with advanced cosmetic surgery techniques, a highly skilled and experienced professional surgeon can effectively shorten the surgical duration and post-operative recovery time meanwhile maintain high surgical quality and patient satisfaction.
The surgical duration of forehead contouring in our clinic normally lasts about 2-3 hours depending on if hairline advancement is involved. Patients can wash their hair and face on the same day after surgery. There might be a bit eye bruise but not affect normal life. We recommend the patients do not smoke and stay up late. Ice pack should be applied on the surgical site during the first 48 hours to reduce the swelling and then change to warm pack after 72 hours to promote the healing of bruise area. Moderate exercise and internal application of Chinese Brake Herb decoction also help to facilitate the healing of bruise and swelling. Patients should follow doctor's direction to do facial massage one week after surgery or receive massage treatment provided in our clinic.
Balanced and low-salt diet is recommended to promote healing and prevent water retention in body. Patient can resume normal social life about two weeks after surgery. Wearing sunglasses can help to cover the surgical trace.
The position for forehead contouring incision depends on whether hairline advancement is desired. If no, an incision about 6cm above the hairline is used so the scar can be well hidden in hair. Results of our cases showed that the incision line is barely visible two weeks after surgery. If the patient has a high forehead or receding hairline, a hairline incision is made and the hairline is moved forward to create a perfect forehead shape.
Professional cosmetic clinics use 3D scanning to show the patients where their real facial problem lies, explain how to make improvements by shaving excessive bone or filling bony defects with bone cement, highlight treatment options and meet patient expectation with a visual simulation of before and after surgical results. Cardiovascular function (e.g. blood pressure, heart rate) of the patient is assessed prior to surgery and monitored by an anesthesiologist during surgery to ensure surgical safety.
Smooth eyebrow contour is no exclusive female facial feature
It is worthy to mention that the forehead contour has an influence on one's sensuous tenderness. Male tends to have a backwards-sloped forehead with bossy brow ridges and a higher hairline. The distinct contour and craggy features give a masculine feeling. Comparatively female foreheads tend to be smoother with flatter brow ridges, which shows a tender fragile femininity.
However going too far is absolutely undesirable. Once Dr. Hsieh had a male patient who was troubled by being mocked as primitive caveman for his overly prominent brow bones with very high hairline. Dr. Hsieh performed forehead/brow bone reduction on this patient to decrease the amount of forehead convexity, which smoothed his forehead contour and helped him get rid of the embarrassing nickname.
Forehead contouring in turn also applies on females who have masculine forehead contour, males who prefer androgynous looking and male-to-female transgender patients who wish to have female features. Forehead/brow bone reduction that reduces the frontal bossing is a key part in facial feminization surgery, desirable outcome of which cannot be achieved simply by filler injection.
Forehead contouring aims at creating desirable forehead line by reshaping the frontal bone. Dr. Hsieh also performs forehead/brow augmentation combines other procedures to increase the forehead convexity on patients' request of having a doll-like face, which highlights the profound eyes and other facial features. It is clear that forehead is a major contributor to facial aesthetics and visual impressions. Now you know about the importance of forehead contour on overall facial aesthetics. Just look in the mirror and see if you have all 4 elements of a perfect forehead.
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All Written Contents and Pictures Created by Dr. Adrian M. Hsieh and Dr. Scott H. Jiang
Aesthetic Medicine Department Plastic Surgery DepartmentAesthetic Dentistry Department
Results of surgery vary among patients. Please consult your doctor.
