Brow Lift

While it’s natural to have concerns about pain with any surgical procedure, most patients are pleasantly surprised at how manageable brow lift recovery is. You can expect some tightness, swelling, and mild discomfort around the forehead and scalp in the first few days, but this is typically well-controlled with prescribed pain medication and proper post-operative care. The sensation is often more of a tenderness or pressure rather than sharp pain, and many patients transition to over-the-counter pain relief within a few days.

Patients attend several key appointments throughout the brow lift journey to ensure safety, comfort, and optimal results. It begins with an in-depth consultation, during which Dr. Bitar evaluates your goals, facial structure, and medical history to design a personalized surgical plan. After surgery, you’ll be seen the very next day to monitor your initial healing, followed by a series of post-op check-ins over the next few weeks and months. These appointments allow us to manage swelling, monitor scar healing, and address any concerns you may have. Most patients can expect between 5 and 7 appointments over the course of the first year, including your celebratory one-year visit when final results are fully revealed. 

Initial improvements from a brow lift become visible as early as 2 to 3 weeks after surgery, once the bruising and most of the swelling have subsided. However, your final, most refined results may take 6 to 12 months to fully develop as your tissues continue to heal and settle into their new position. Most patients report feeling more confident within the first month, especially once they can wear makeup again and resume social activities. Over time, your results will continue to soften and look more natural, with a refreshed, open expression and smoother forehead contours.

Absolutely—brow lifts are frequently combined with other facial procedures such as facelifts, eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), or laser skin resurfacing to address multiple areas of concern in one surgical setting. Combining treatments not only enhances your results by ensuring facial harmony, but it can also reduce total recovery time and cost when compared to undergoing procedures separately. At the Bitar Cosmetic Surgery Institute, Dr. Bitar will work closely with you to design a custom treatment plan that aligns with your goals, facial anatomy, and lifestyle.

At the Bitar Cosmetic Surgery Institute, we take pride in ensuring that we provide our patients with the best possible surgical experience, anticipating potential problems or setbacks and addressing them before they occur. This process includes pre-operative preparation, the actual surgery, and post-operative care.

• General Complications
  General complications can occur with any surgery. Cosmetic surgery is typically a safe procedure performed on healthy patients and, like all surgeries, carries a low risk. To further reduce the risk of complications, we operate at a first-class surgery center with board-certified anesthesiologists and nurses. To avoid postoperative complications, we advocate for early mobilization – patients seen in our office one or two days after surgery- and active participation in their own postoperative care. When we create a partnership, the results invariably improve.

• Bleeding
  Bleeding after a forehead lift is rare. Before surgery, our patients are tested to make sure they don’t have any common bleeding disorders by their own physicians and by lab tests.

• Infection/ Open Wound
  The most important step in avoiding infections is to undergo surgery at a first-rate surgical facility with board-certified anesthesiologists and nurses. Patients are given the appropriate intravenous antibiotic coverage throughout the surgery. During the surgery, the patient’s skin surface is cleaned thoroughly. After the procedure, our patients are prescribed antibiotics to minimize infection. As a result of these extra precautions, our rate of infection after a forehead lift is extremely rare. If there is a small wound, the blood supply to the forehead is excellent, allowing for rapid healing.

• Nerve Injury
  In our forehead lift technique, we perform the dissection away from the major nerves to minimize the risk of injury. The result is a minimal rate of functional nerve injury. There is sensory nerve damage, resulting in some loss of sensation on the scalp. Sometimes, temporary loss of sensation from a “stunned” nerve or a bruised nerve may occur in the time period after surgery.

• The “Surprised” Look
  With any forehead procedure, there may be a period early in the healing phase where a patient appears surprised. This is due to swelling and early skin tightness, which relaxes over time. Reassuring the patient that this look is temporary usually puts patients at ease.

• Hair Loss
  Any procedure that causes stress on the forehead may lead to temporary hair loss. This is a rare occurrence, and one that we have not experienced in our practice, but it is listed to remind people that certain complications are associated with the forehead lift procedure.

• Smoking
  Smoking is an absolute contraindication for a forehead lift. The carbon monoxide and nicotine in cigarette smoke cause a severe reduction in blood supply to the skin and scalp during healing. This results in delayed wound healing, wound separation, skin death, and a higher risk of infection. Cotinine testing is performed in patients with a smoking history to ensure that they are safe when having this procedure.