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Frontal bone reduction / brow bone reduction

Conveniently located to serve Washington DC, Arlington, Bethesda

The Forehead

A typical “feminine” forehead should be flat without any bone “bossing”, be shorter, have wider appearing orbits (eye sockets), eyebrows that are higher and more curved and a U shaped hairline.  A typical “masculine” forehead has an M shaped (widow’s peaking), a prominent frontal bone, lower and straighter eyebrows and a longer forehead.  To improve the appearance of the forehead, there are 2 options, depending on if scalp advancement is needed.

The Procedure

There are 2 ways to perform this procedure depending on whether hairline adjustment is needed. 

  1. Forehead reduction with hairline advancement – used for patients who also need shortening of their forehead, elevation of their eyebrows and shaping their hairline.  This procedure is performed by making an incision at the junction of the hairbearing and non-hairbearing skin of the forehead.  The skin is lifted down to the eye level to expose the bone.  A high speed burr is used to shape the outside of the orbital bone to reduce the projection and create a wider, more shallow orbit.  The central area overlying the sinus is either reduced by just burring (type II forehead) or removing and shaping the bone and replacing it with small metal plates – frontal sinus setback (type III forehead).  We use X rays prior to surgery to evaluate the thickness of the bone to see which surgery is most appropriate.  Once the bone is flattened, the hair bearing scalp is elevated and advanced forward.  Some of the non-hair bearing skin is removed, which shortens the forehead, shapes the hairline and lifts the eyebrows.  The incision is closed and your head wrapped. 
  2. Coronal incision – some patients may just require bony reduction, but no adjustment to their hairline, forehead or eyebrows or they may desire a less noticeable incision. In these cases, the incision is made at the top of the scalp in the hair bearing areas.  The skin is lifted and the bone reduced, but no skin is removed (doing so would lengthen the forehead by removing hair bearing skin).

Recovery

Recovery is fairly quick with sutures/staples being removed in 5-10 days. Swelling and bruising generally resolves in under 2 weeks and scar care is performed for a few months after surgery

Risks

  1. Visible scars – with incisions made at the front of the hairline, there is a chance that the scars will be visible, especially with hairstyle techniques such as ponytails where the hair is pulled back.  If this is the case, we may recommend hair grafting to help hide the area. 
  2. Sinus issues, uncommon, but there are cases when you could have sinusitis or blockage of the ducts
  3. Contour issues – uncommon, but may require a minor revision.  In very thin skin patients, sometimes the plates can be felt through the skin
  4. Nerve issues – numbness of the scalp generally resolves over time. There is a small chance of injury to the nerves to the forehead muscles
  5. Eye injury – very rare, but due to the proximity to the eyes there is a very small chance
  6. Hair loss – possible along the incision line
Your Brow Reduction will be performed in Dr. Praful Ramineni‘s surgery center located in Washington, DC.

This has been an amazing experience from the consultation to post-surgery!!! I honestly can’t even express how happy & grateful I am with the results. Everyone….Dr. Ramineni and his whole team are impeccable, to say the least. A very thoughtful, professional, kind, and knowledgable team. I will 100% always refer anyone I know to this amazing team…Dr. Ramineni had a challenge when I came to see him with my issue but he 1000% went above & beyond to achieve perfection with my results. I can’t thank this team enough!! I genuinely want to thank you so much!

- Sally T.

Dr. Ramineni was recommended to me by my plastic surgeon as a masterful surgeon who could figure out why I was having complications. He diagnosed the problem correctly and fixed it. I am grateful for his openness, his honesty, and skill.

- Saiyyaed A.

Life-altering surgeon. He helped make my dreams come true with the most flawless surgery I’d been waiting my whole life to get. Healing and recovery has been almost disturbingly easy and pain-free. I could not recommend enough. Everyone there is so sweet as well!

- Katie C.

Dr. Praful Ramineni

Plastic Surgeon in Washington D.C.

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Dr. Ramineni is the founder of District Plastic Surgery. He is board certified and has over 15 years of experience in plastic and reconstructive surgery. He started his career as one of the busiest surgeons at Medstar Washington Hospital Center with a focus on complex reconstructive surgery including cancer and trauma reconstruction, microsurgery and aesthetic surgery.

Dr. Praful Ramineni

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