What Is a Brow Lift? Cost, Types and More Explained

A well-executed brow lift can take years off your face. While beauty products, dyes, tinting, threading and waxing can impact how your brows look, you might get the best benefits from a brow lift if you have saggy brows or want to look younger.

The antiaging procedure lifts sagging brows by tightening up the skin on your face, and about 88,000 brow lifts are performed each year, usually among women.¹ Continue reading to learn more about how the procedure works and what you can expect to pay.

What Is a Brow Lift?

A brow lift is a cosmetic procedure done by a surgeon that repositions your forehead to raise the brows.¹ As you age, your skin loses elasticity,¹ causing the distance between the eyebrows and eyelashes to decrease when the eyebrows start to sag.² Sun damage also ages skin and contributes to loss of elasticity, which can impact brow height.¹

A brow lift can help with the following:¹

• Looking more awake
• Correcting hooded eyes or sagging eyebrows
• Correcting deep creases and/or wrinkles across the forehead
• Fixing excess skin hanging over the eyes³
• Correcting frown lines across the top of your nose³
• Fixing the “11s" frown lines between the brows

You might also hear or read about a brow lift as “browplasty," “forehead rejuvenation," “forehead lift" or a “temporal brow lift/lateral brow lift."¹

One of the top benefits of a brow lift is that it puts the eyebrows in an alert and youthful position while reducing wrinkles.⁴

Types of Brow Lifts

There are a few types of surgical brow lift procedures to talk to your doctor about, as well as a non-surgical brow lift to consider. Below are the common types of brow lifts.

Endoscopic brow lift

An endoscopic brow lift is less invasive.¹ It typically involves three to five incisions made along the hairline.⁵ Then, an endoscope (camera) offers a peek so the surgeon doesn't have to make large incisions in order to see where to detach the brows, lift them to the desired location and then reattach them to the forehead.² Since this brow lift involves fewer incisions, it tends to have a faster recovery time and results in less scarring.⁵

Coronal brow lift

Also called the classic brow lift, this type of brow lift involves a long incision along the hairline that goes down to the ears.⁵

Direct brow lift

During a direct brow lift, the surgeon makes incisions above the eyebrow and removes a small section of skin, pulling the eyebrow up to a higher height. This brow lift can be good if you have big, bushy brows that can hide surgical incisions.⁶

Trichophytic brow lift

This type of brow lift surgery consists of making an incision at the tail end of one brow, going over the forehead below the hairline to the tail end of the other brow. This type of brow lift can shorten the forehead, which can be good for someone who feels they have a high forehead.⁶

Non-surgical brow lift

You can achieve a lifted look with BOTOX® (botulinum toxin) injections to temporarily paralyze the muscles that cause facial lines and wrinkles. The relaxed muscles over the eyebrows can cause them to lift, making you look more awake with a more youthful appearance. BOTOX's results are temporary, and the desired effects for the eyebrows — and wrinkles — will wear off much sooner than with forehead surgery.⁷

How Much Does a Brow Lift Cost?

On average, the cost of a brow lift is $3,900⁸ but can range between $3,000-$19,000, depending on a variety of factors.⁹ These prices usually do not include the cost of operating room facilities, anesthesia, medications you receive during and after treatment, medical tests and lab fees before the brow lift procedure, as well as the cost of consultations before and after the cosmetic procedure.⁸

Other factors that can influence the cost of a brow lift include:¹⁰

• The surgeon you choose
• The type of brow lift you get
• Where you live in the country
• Where the procedure is performed (e.g., hospital, surgery center, outpatient facility)
• If you're getting other cosmetic procedures added on

Does health insurance cover brow lifts?

Since a brow lift is an elective cosmetic procedure, most health insurance plans won't cover brow lift surgery.⁸

How Does a Brow Lift Work?

Here's what a forehead lift procedure might involve:

1. You'll receive general or local anesthesia, depending on the surgeon's preferences.¹
2. The doctor will make endoscopic incisions in your scalp or coronal incisions along the top of your hairline.²
3. The skin on the forehead is lifted up. The tissue on the forehead is moved and/or repositioned.²
4. Once the skin is in the desired position, the doctor will keep it in place with sutures,² adhesives⁵ or surgical tape.⁵
5. The surgeon might put a drain in to collect blood and excess fluid.⁵
6. You'll be moved to a post-op area for observation⁵ before being discharged.¹

Is a brow lift painful?

You shouldn't experience pain when you're under anesthesia, but you will likely experience some pain and discomfort after the procedure, particularly around where the incision scars are. You might have bruising and swelling, which can add to feelings of pain and discomfort.¹

Talk to your plastic surgeon about what you can expect from a pain standpoint, when swelling should subside, as well as activities they recommend you avoid.¹

Your sutures should come out at a follow-up appointment about a week after the brow lift surgery.²

You should be able to see final results of brow lift surgery within a few weeks if you're healing well.³ Some patients report saying they looked a little “surprised" the first few weeks until their brows settled into the final positions.⁹

It can take up to six months for all swelling to dissipate and for scars to completely heal.⁵

Possible side effects of brow lift surgery

As with any surgery, there can be side effects. For brow lift surgery, side effects might include:¹⁶

• Temporary hair loss around incision sites
• Possible nerve damage
• Anesthesia risks
• Bleeding
• Possible infection
• Pain that persists
• An elevated hairline
• Dry eyes or eye irritation
• Numbness in skin
• Itchy skin
• Fluid accumulation
• Asymmetrical eyebrows

Brow Lift Recovery

Your brow lift recovery depends on the type of forehead surgery you had done¹ and if any other facelift procedures were completed at the same time. It also depends on each patient's body and how quickly they heal after surgery.

Usually, you'll return home the same day you had eyebrow surgery, depending on which type of brow surgery you received.⁵

The doctor will place bandages on your head and face and recommend you keep your head elevated after a brow lift surgery to reduce swelling.¹

In general, you might experience the following symptoms in the days and weeks after cosmetic surgery:¹

• Swelling
• Bruising
• Pain
• Tenderness
• Itching or numbness on the scalp²

How Long Do Brow Lift Results Last?

The results of brow lift surgery can last about 10 years, particularly if you take good care of the skin on your face by wearing SPF 30 or higher⁹ and covering your face with a hat when you're out in the sun.

Financing a Brow Lift With the CareCredit Credit Card

Ready to revitalize your appearance and boost your confidence? The CareCredit credit card makes it easy to pay for brow lifts and related expenses not covered by health insurance.* Apply today and use our Acceptance Locator to find a doctor or cosmetic surgeon near you that accepts CareCredit so you can stop dreaming and start living your best life. Continue your wellness journey by downloading the CareCredit Mobile App to manage your CareCredit account, find a provider on the go and easily access the Well U hub for more great articles, podcasts and videos.

Author Bio

Diana Kelly Levey is a freelance journalist, content marketing writer and author with more than 15 years of experience covering health and wellness.