Before deciding on whether a man would be a good candidate for the forehead reduction surgery we have to make sure that he has few if any indicators of male pattern balding. If someone has a stable hairline and no obvious risk of male pattern balding, he might be a good candidate for the forehead reduction surgery. The hairline can usually be lowered by at least 3 cm in a one stage procedure. If someone needs significantly more of a forehead reduction a tissue expander might be necessary.

If the hairline is not that dense (but is still stable) I sometimes recommend having a small amount of hair grafting done at the same time as the forehead reduction to help camouflage the scar even more and thicken the hairline. Grafting can also be used to shape the hairline a bit and make it rounder.

For hair grafting I usually recommend The New Hair Institute who I work with closely. They are honest, fair, and do an exceptional job. During your consultation we will discuss all the options.

To read more about hairline lowering surgery and forehead reduction surgery please continue to our website.

While other surgeons are able to lower the hairline only minimally with a one stage procedure, the technique I use can lower the hairline by at least an inch to potentially over 2 inches in one stage without having to use a tissue expander or balloon. Try to compare apples to apples. Most before and after pictures you will see online from other surgeons for the hairline lowering surgery are of patients who have had a tissue expander. All the before and after photos on our website are of patients who have had a one stage procedure without the use of a tissue expander. This is a huge difference. I firmly believe that for patients who need 2 inches of reduction or less, the one stage procedure should be the surgery of choice. For those patients who need over 2 inches of reduction, a tissue expander should be considered.

Regardless of how "tight" your scalp might be, if you need less than an inch and a half (4 cm) of a hairline reduction, you should NOT need a tissue expander. Although I can never guarantee how much hairline lowering can be performed with the one stage procedure, I have never not been able to lower it by at least an inch and a half when needed.

Having a tissue expander in place is not much fun. It is weeks and weeks of walking around with a balloon under your scalp needing to come into the office 2-3 times a week for expansion. For the last several weeks you are walking around like a cone head. If you do not think one to one and a half inches of hairline lowering will be enough and you do not want to risk trying the one stage procedure, then you should consider the two stage hairline lowering with tissue expander.

The majority of my patients have had consultations with other surgeons who have recommended the tissue expander. We have always been able to get a very nice hairline lowering without it. I have had a few patients where they could have probably used a little bit more of a reduction, but they were still happy with the reduction as well as not having to go through the tissue expansion process.

Although you will look really good almost right away after forehead reduction surgery, there are 2 limiting factors usually for you to feel totally comfortable sleeking your hair back. The first is the incision healing time that may vary depending on your skin type and the way that you heal. The incision looks great even after 2 weeks, but will get better and better for several weeks after that. For people with more pigment in their skin, there might be a bit more of redness associated with the incision that might last a bit longer.

The second limiting factor is your rate of hair growth. Hair will start to grow through the scar and in front of it slowly helping the hide the incision even more. This step may take a few months, depending on the rate of your hair growth.

On the conservative side, I would say it will take about 2 months for you to feel comfortable sleeking your hair back if you are a good healer with fast hair growth, and could take as long as 5-6 months if you have darker skin with slower hair growth.

It is very rare that I have to use a scalp expander for a forehead reduction surgery or hairline lowering. There are several variables that control how low we can bring your hairline in one stage without an expander. These include how much scalp laxity you might have, how dense your current hairline is, how much laxity you have in your forehead skin, whether you also might benefit from a brow lift, as well as several others.

Even with all these issues, it is still rare that we need to use a scalp expander to get your hairline where it needs to be. It is a pretty safe bet that we can lower your hairline by at least an inch, and sometimes up to 2 inches without an expander.

Hairline lowering surgery or forehead reduction is a relatively pain-free operation with minimal downtime. Feel free to read more about it in our Hairline Lowering Surgery and Forehead Reduction page.

In general, young men are not the ideal candidates for forehead reduction or hairline lowering surgery. This is because in men the natural hairline might recede with age making the scar potentially more visible. It is still possible to perform hairline lowering surgery in men, as long as they know that they might have to have some hair grafting performed in the future, or they can choose to have a small amount of hair grafting performed the same day as their hairline lowering surgery.