Forehead Reduction Scar

Forehead reduction scar

What does the forehead reduction scar look like once it has healed?

In short

It is a single line running along the front of the new hairline, and it does not disappear. Rewind's own answer to the scar question is that a scar remains, and that because the incision follows the hairline it is hard to pick out in most cases once healed. The clinic cuts that line on a 45-degree oblique angle and designs it around the direction in which hair grows at the border. The angle is there for one reason: so that hair can come up through and just in front of the healed line and break up its edge. How much of it you can see later depends on your hair, your skin and how the wound was treated while it closed.

No forehead reduction case photographs are published on this page at present, and none are borrowed from other operations to fill the space. Everything said here about the line comes from Rewind's Korean surgical page for forehead reduction and from the published research listed at the foot of the page.

People who search for before and after images of this operation are usually asking something narrower than whether the forehead got shorter. They want to know what the line looks like with the hair pulled back, how long it stays pink, and whether a photo taken with a fringe covering the hairline says anything at all. Those are the questions this page is written around. For the operation as a whole, see the main forehead reduction page.

One thing to separate early: a forehead lift also uses an incision in the hair-bearing region, but it moves the brow upwards and leaves a different line in a different place. The scar described here is the one left by lowering the hairline.

What changes, and when

How a forehead reduction scar changes as hair grows through the incision line

A photograph of a hairline scar is only meaningful alongside the date it was taken. The same line looks entirely different on the day the dressing comes off and a year later, and most of that change happens without anyone doing anything to it.

01Dressing

The first day or two: under compression

Rewind asks for a compression dressing for one to two days. Nothing about the scar can be judged at this point. Swelling across the forehead is normal, and it tends to drift down towards the eyes.

02Early

The early weeks: a visible line with stitches

With the dressing off, the line is plainly visible when the hair is lifted: a narrow, pinkish seam with sutures in place until the surgeon removes them. Rewind does not publish a suture removal day for this operation, so it is set at your review. Photographs from this stage show the placement of the line and very little about its final look.

03Regrowth

The following months: hair begins to cross the line

Because the edge was cut at an angle, hair roots along it can grow, and fine hairs start to appear through and in front of the scar. This is the point where photographs change most. A line that was continuous becomes interrupted, and with the hair down it is often lost in the border. Some shedding close to the incision can happen first; it is one of the named risks below.

04Maturing

Later: colour fades, texture settles

Scars keep maturing for a long time after the wound has closed, fading from pink towards the colour of the surrounding skin and softening in texture. How far that goes is individual. A useful later photograph shows the hair pulled back and states when it was taken.

05Limits

What this page will not put a number on

How many weeks each stage lasts, when sutures come out, and exactly when regrowth starts. Rewind's surgical page gives none of these figures, and they are not borrowed here from other operations. The surgeon talks you through the expected sequence at the consultation.

Pricing

Forehead reduction prices at Rewind, and what they cover at the hairline

The scar is not billed separately. Placing and closing the line is part of the operation, and so is the fixation that keeps tension off it.

Both figures are list prices with anaesthetic fees included and VAT excluded, so VAT is added on top. The Endotine device is part of the forehead reduction line. Which listing applies to you is decided at the examination, and any later adjustment to a scar is discussed with the surgeon if it becomes relevant; it is not priced on this page.

Looking after the line

Caring for the forehead reduction scar while it matures

Rewind's instructions after this operation are brief. Most of them protect the line during the period when it is deciding how wide and how red it will stay.

Risks that bear directly on the scar are a line that widens or stays red, raised or thickened scarring, temporary shedding of hair along the incision, patches of numbness or altered sensation behind the line, asymmetry of the new border, infection, bleeding under the scalp and, in some cases, a later revision. Smokers heal less reliably at the scalp edge. How any one scar settles differs from person to person, and its final look cannot be promised.

Questions

Forehead reduction scars: what people ask about the line