Brow Lift versus Blepharoplasty

Blepharoplasty is a very common surgical procedure to remove the upper eyelid skin. This helps patients see better. The excess skin on the upper eyelids pushes the eyelid down and blocks vision.  After the skin is removed, vision gets better.  

When the forehead skin stretches or descends over time, the eyebrows fall below the bony orbital rim. This will make it seem like the upper eyelids have excess skin. However, if you pull the eyebrows higher, the excess skin that was on the upper eyelids, becomes a normal amount of eyelid skin, not resting on the eyelashes. 

If the eyebrows are in a normal position and there is excess skin on the upper eyelids, then a blepharoplasty would be appropriate (to remove the excess skin).  Women’s eyebrows start medially at the orbital rim and should arch above the orbital rim laterally. Men’s eyebrows follow the orbital rim.

There are several procedures to lift the eyebrows. The direct brow lift uses an incision at the upper border of the eyebrow hair. A pretrichial brow lift makes an incision at the upper forehead hairline. There are other forms of brow lifts as well.