Brow Lift in Turkey

The brow descends with age because the forehead tissue loosens and the muscles that pull it down — around the eyes and between the brows — gradually win against the single muscle that lifts it. The result is a brow that sits lower, particularly at the outer third, pushing skin into the upper lid and shortening the distance between brow and lash line.

This matters because a hooded upper lid is frequently a brow problem wearing an eyelid disguise. Removing upper lid skin in a patient whose brow has dropped tethers the brow lower still, which is why the brow position test should come before any blepharoplasty decision.

The techniques

Endoscopic brow lifting is the modern default: small incisions hidden behind the hairline, a camera to work under, and fixation to hold the brow in its new position. The coronal lift that produced reliable results at the cost of a long scar and permanent numbness is now reserved for unusual cases.

What the package includes

• Surgeon and anaesthetist fees
• One night in a private hospital room
• All pre-operative blood tests
• Endoscopic equipment and fixation devices
• Six nights in a four-star hotel with breakfast
• All airport, hotel and hospital transfers
• A personal English-speaking coordinator
• Suture or staple removal before you fly home
• Scar care products for the first three months
• Twelve months of remote aftercare

Is a brow lift worth it over botulinum toxin?

Botulinum toxin can raise the outer brow by a millimetre or two by relaxing the muscles that pull it down, and for mild descent that is often enough. It costs a fraction as much, takes ten minutes and wears off in four months. A brow lift is the answer when the descent is structural rather than muscular, or when you are tired of repeating injections indefinitely. Trying the injections first is a sensible way to preview the direction of travel.

A brow lift is usually suitable if

• Lifting your brow with a finger resolves the hooding of your upper lid.
• Your outer brow has dropped, giving a heavy or stern look at rest.
• You have deep horizontal forehead lines from constantly raising your brows to see.
• You have vertical frown lines between the brows that botulinum toxin no longer fully controls.
• Your hairline position allows an endoscopic approach, or you accept a hairline incision.
• You are a non-smoker, or can stop at least four weeks before surgery.

You may need something else

• Your brow position is normal and the problem is lid skin: eyelid surgery alone is the answer.
• Your descent is mild: botulinum toxin may achieve enough for a fraction of the cost.
• Your forehead is already high: an endoscopic lift raises the hairline further, so a hairline incision is preferable.
• You are bald or have a receding hairline: incision placement becomes a real constraint and needs careful planning.
• You want a dramatic change: more than five millimetres looks operated on rather than rested.
• You have had previous forehead or scalp surgery, which affects what is achievable.

Our self-check below gives you an honest starting answer, and a Valentmedica plastic surgeon reviews your photographs free of charge before you commit to anything.

1. Marking: with you sitting upright and your face completely relaxed, your surgeon marks the planned brow position and the incision sites. A brow marked with the patient lying down sits differently once they stand.
2. Anaesthetic: general anaesthetic for most endoscopic lifts, or sedation with local for a temporal lift.
3. Incisions: three to five incisions of one to two centimetres, placed one to two centimetres behind the hairline where the hair hides them completely.
4. Endoscopic dissection: a camera is passed through one incision and instruments through the others. The forehead tissue is released from the bone across the brow and down to the orbital rim, under direct vision.
5. Releasing the depressors: the muscles that pull the brow down and create frown lines — corrugator and procerus — are weakened or partially divided. This is often what produces the biggest improvement in a stern resting expression.
6. Repositioning: the released forehead is lifted to the planned position, usually two to five millimetres, and checked with you positioned upright on the table.
7. Fixation: the new position is held with absorbable fixation devices, sutures to the deep tissue or small cortical tunnels in the skull. Fixation is what makes the lift last rather than drift back.
8. Closing: incisions closed with sutures or staples, removed at seven to ten days. A light head dressing is applied.

• Days 1–3: swelling across the forehead, often spreading to the eyes and sometimes bruising the eyelids. Head elevated at all times, including sleeping.
• Days 4–7: swelling peaks then begins to settle. Numbness and an odd tight sensation across the scalp are normal and expected.
• Days 7–10: sutures or staples removed. Most patients can cover residual bruising with makeup from about day eight.
• Days 10–14: back at a desk job. The brow looks higher than the final result because of swelling.
• Weeks 3–6: swelling largely resolved. The brow settles down a millimetre or two into its final position.
• Weeks 4–6: light exercise restarts. No heavy lifting or inversion.
• Months 3–6: the final brow position and expression. Scalp numbness continues improving.
• Months 6–12: scalp sensation returns, usually completely. Itching during this phase is a sign of nerve recovery.

Valentmedica works only with JCI-accredited private hospitals in Istanbul and with plastic surgeons registered with the Turkish Ministry of Health who hold Turkish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons membership.

Risks you should know about

• Over-elevation: the surprised look. The commonest aesthetic failure and hard to reverse.
• Asymmetry: brows are rarely level to begin with, and small differences often persist.
• Frontal nerve injury: weakness of the forehead on one side, usually temporary but occasionally permanent.
• Sensory nerve injury: numbness behind the incisions, common and usually resolving over 6–12 months.
• Hairline elevation: an endoscopic lift raises the hairline slightly, which matters if yours is already high.
• Hair loss around the incisions: usually temporary, occasionally permanent in a narrow band.
• Relapse: the brow settling back down, more likely where fixation was inadequate.
• Haematoma: bleeding under the forehead flap, uncommon but needing prompt attention.

Tell your surgeon if you have had previous forehead surgery, scalp scarring, or any facial nerve weakness. All three change the surgical plan, and the last may be the reason a direct brow lift is chosen instead.

A facelift addresses the lower face and neck and does nothing above the eyes. A brow lift addresses the upper third and nothing below. Patients who have one without the other sometimes find the untreated area now looks noticeably older by comparison.

Commonly combined with

• Upper eyelid surgery: the classic combination. The brow lift raises the brow, and a conservative blepharoplasty removes the lid skin that remains. Doing the blepharoplasty alone on a descended brow makes the brow worse. See eyelid surgery.
• Facelift: for a coherent whole-face result rather than a treated lower face and an untreated upper one. See facelift.
• Mid-face lift: addresses the cheek and lower eyelid region between the two. See endoscopic mid-face lift.
• Fat transfer to the temples and brow: restores volume that hollows with age and supports the lifted brow. See fat transfer.
• Botulinum toxin: used afterwards rather than at the same time, to maintain the result by keeping the depressor muscles relaxed.

If you are having a blepharoplasty, ask your surgeon to assess your brow at the same consultation. It is the single most useful thing they can check, and it changes the recommendation in a meaningful proportion of cases.

• Photographs: take them straight on with your face completely relaxed and your brows down. Most people unconsciously raise their brows for a camera, which hides the very thing being assessed.
• Hairline: discuss it explicitly. If your forehead is already high, an incision at the hairline rather than behind it avoids raising it further.
• Medication: tell your surgeon everything you take. Blood thinners, anti-inflammatories, fish oil and vitamin E all increase bruising around the eyes and forehead.
• Botulinum toxin: tell your surgeon when you last had it. Most prefer you to be at least three months clear so your true brow position can be assessed.
• Smoking: stop at least four weeks before and after. Scalp flap healing depends on blood supply.
• Time off: plan 10–14 days. Forehead and eyelid bruising is highly visible.
• Packing list: a travel pillow to keep your head elevated, loose button-up tops, dark glasses and your medication in its original packaging.

The aim is a rested rather than lifted appearance — brows that sit where they did ten years ago, a forehead that is not permanently working to hold them up, and a resting expression that matches how you actually feel. Done well, the change is noticeable without being identifiable, and the forehead lines soften because you are no longer compensating.

Judge it at three months with a neutral expression and a straight-on photograph in the same light as your pre-operative one. The brow sits a millimetre or two lower at three months than at three weeks, which is expected and planned for. Ageing continues, and maintaining the result with botulinum toxin to the depressor muscles extends it meaningfully. You can see three and twelve month comparisons in our before and after gallery.