Many people between the ages of forty and sixty appear to have a permanent scowl ? a brow furrowed and creased by wrinkles, hanging low across the eyes as if to close out the world. These people are classic candidates for the brow lift procedure, also known as the forehead lift.

But not every forehead lift is created equal. Surgeons offer several forehead lift options, each targeted on a specific region of the brow.

Mid-Forehead Lift: designed to improve the appearance of the most deeply-wrinkled forehead, this operation involves incisions made within the brow wrinkles themselves. Once inside, the surgeon removes the excess fat and skin that form the wrinkles, pulling the eyebrows upwards and allowing the recovery process to help conceal the scars

Endoscopic Forehead Lift: After making a series of tiny incisions behind the patient's hairline, the surgeon introduces an endoscope (a combination surgical tool and viewing device mounted within a long, flexible tube) into the patient's skin and removes the fat and skin from within

Coronal Forehead Lift: The classic procedure, in which an ear-to-ear cut is made across the patient's brow, allowing the surgeon to trim and tighten the skin and underlying tissue of the forehead.

No matter which procedure is deemed best in a given case, the operation itself is a relatively short and painless affair. Many forehead lifts are performed on an outpatient basis while the patient is under general anesthesia. Some swelling and bruising of the areas adjacent to incisions may be expected, and the surgeon may direct that the patient treat these with ordinary over-the-counter pain medications and/or ice. Swelling usually subsides in within two days of surgery; bruises may require up to 14 days to heal completely. Scarring from forehead lift surgery is usually inconspicuous, since incisions usually follow the natural hairline of the patient, and may be nonexistent when the laparoscopic procedure is performed.

No form of surgery is entirely free from risk, and complications due to forehead lift / brow lift are possible. Among these is permanent hair loss, nerve damage, loss or diminution of forehead and/or brow mobility, bleeding, scarring and secondary infection. For this reason the decision to pursue the surgical option for the treatment of significant forehead wrinkling is one to be made by the patient only consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon. Should forehead lift be deemed the best treatment, the patient should expect some discomfort during the recovery and healing process and be prepared to wait some time before the desired appearance is made manifest