Cosmetic Brow Lift – The Myths And Truths

By now you probably know that we use cosmetic medicine (called Wrinkle reduction medicine in Australia) for so much more than just the dreaded lines between your brows or deep creases in your forehead.  One of the most common requests I get is for ‘brow lift’ injections, and we cosmetic practitioners can do just that.  However, sometimes a patient will come back ask for a little bit more, so the brows will go even higher.  And that’s the myth!

Anti Wrinkle injections don’t actually lift the eyebrows.

I know, I seem to be contradicting the above paragraph before this one. Yes, we use wrinkle reduction to do brow lifts….but wrinkle reduction doesn’t actually lift the brows.  Follow me now:

Anti wrinkle medicine works by stopping muscle movement.

Some muscles pull the eyebrows down (the orbicularis oculi and the corrugator muscles).  Other muscles pull the eyebrows up (the frontalis muscles).  These muscle groups work against each other.  Wrinkle reduction medicine can’t make a muscle stronger, right? It can only make it (temporarily) weaker.  So when we do a cosmetic brow lift, we put t

he medicine in the muscles that pull the eyebrows down.  That lets the upward-pulling muscles do their job unopposed.

The Potential Problem

So it figures that wrinkle reduction medication then will weaken the brow depressors, which allows the brow lifters to do their job without having to work against those depressors.  But what if you don’t have a strong lifter muscle (frontalis)–what if you frontalis muscles just aren’t very powerful and can’t pull your brows up much, even when unopposed?

Or what if your eyebrow position is so low that your lifter muscles (frontalis) just can’t work hard enough to get them up where you want them?

Options

Adding more antiwrinkle injections won’t fix either of those problems.  And that’s when a surgical browlift might be a good option for you.

Please don’t read this and assume cosmetic nurses don’t LOVE a great brow lift! WE DO, very much, and I do it often!  And I love that it’s a great option for a lot of people, however, every now especially if you are over 50, it’s good to revisit the anatomy and explain how things work.  Likewise, alert you as to why I might mention a surgical option to some of you when you’ve “just come in for a brow lift”.  Options are good to have and understand.