Forehead reduction surgery shortens the distance between your eyebrows and your hairline. Also called hairline lowering, it is the only reliable way to reduce forehead height without a hair transplant. We perform it with ultrasonic instrumentation at Clinique Face MD, part of our facial plastic surgery in Montreal practice. Results vary.
Your scalp decides how far your hairline can move, and we measure it at consultation. Book online, or call us at (514) 447-9435.
What Is Forehead Reduction Surgery?
Forehead reduction surgery moves the hairline forward and removes the strip of forehead skin behind it. We advance the hair-bearing scalp toward your brow, excise the excess, and close along your new hairline.
Nothing is added. No implant, no graft, no filler.
A high forehead throws the upper third of the face out of proportion with the other two facial thirds, and facial harmony is judged across all three. A large forehead is usually congenital, inherited with your frontal hairline shape and temporal recession. Most people notice a prominent forehead in photographs, feel self-conscious about it, and build a hairstyle around it.
The operation is elective and aesthetic. It changes forehead height, not brow position, and does not treat wrinkles or brow descent.
Hairline Lowering, Hairline Advancement and Scalp Advancement: One Procedure, Several Names
The naming is a mess, and it costs you time. One operation goes by hairline lowering, hairline advancement, hairline reduction, forehead lowering, scalp advance, scalp reduction and scalp advancement. If you searched forehead reduction Montreal, hairline lowering Montreal or scalp lowering, you are in the right place.
Am I a Candidate for Hairline Lowering Surgery?
Candidacy is anatomical, not demographic. The variable that decides it is scalp laxity: how far your scalp travels forward when we mobilise it. A loose scalp gives several centimetres. A tight one gives very little, and no technique compensates.
We perform hairline lowering surgery for women with a congenitally high hairline, for men whose hairline is stable rather than receding, and as part of facial feminization surgery. Your hair density and hairline position decide the answer.
What We Assess at Consultation: Scalp Laxity, Hair Density and Hairline Position
A forehead reduction consultation is a measurement appointment. We record forehead height from trichion to glabella, test your scalp elasticity by hand, and examine hair density behind your frontal hairline. Four findings shape your plan:
- Scalp mobility, which sets the realistic centimetre range
- Hair density at the frontal hairline and through the temporal recession
- Your hairline shape, including a widow’s peak, which we can keep or soften
- General health and non-smoking status, both of which affect healing
Realistic expectations are part of candidacy. If you want four centimetres from a tight scalp, we tell you at consultation, not in the operating room.
When a Receding Hairline Points to Hair Transplantation Instead
A receding hairline is the main exclusion. Advancing a hairline that is still receding moves the problem forward instead of solving it, so we stage male pattern loss first, tracked on the Norwood scale.
Where your scalp will not move, FUE hair transplantation in Montreal is the alternative: six to twelve hours of harvested hair grafts, about a year before they show. Forehead reduction takes roughly two hours and gives immediate results on the table. If your density is thinning, we may start you on PRP for hair loss first.
Book a Forehead Reduction Consultation in Montreal
Bring your questions about scalp laxity and scar placement. We measure the centimetre range for your anatomy rather than estimating it.
Ultrasonic Forehead Reduction vs. Conventional Hairline Advancement
Once we advance your scalp, it has to be held there while it heals. Conventional hairline advancement anchors it with screws or plates in the outer skull. Ultrasonic forehead reduction uses none.
Conventional hairline advancement | Ultrasonic forehead reduction | |
Fixation | Screws, plates or absorbable devices | Suture through piezoelectric bone tunnels |
Left in place | Hardware, sometimes palpable | Nothing. Sutures are absorbable |
Incision | Trichophytic | Trichophytic, unchanged |
Downtime | Same | Same |
The technique changes fixation and removes retained foreign material. It does not shorten downtime, change the incision or improve the scar, and we will not tell you it does. A natural-looking hairline comes from incision design.
Piezoelectric Bone Tunnels Instead of Screws or Fixation Plates
We use a piezoelectric device to cut small bone tunnels in the outer table of the skull. Suture passes through them and secures the galea, the fibrous layer under your scalp, to the periosteum in its new forward position. The ultrasonic tip cuts mineralised bone and stops at soft tissue. We use the same instrumentation in ultrasonic rhinoplasty. Results vary.
The place for my face
How the Hairline Lowering Procedure Is Performed
The forehead reduction procedure is performed under general anaesthesia, and lowering the hairline is single-stage in most cases. Where your scalp is genuinely tight, we can stage it with a tissue expander placed weeks in advance.
The Trichophytic Incision and Forward Scalp Advance
A trichophytic incision, or pretrichial incision, runs in a fine irregular line in front of your hairline, bevelled so it transects the upper hair follicles instead of passing between them. Those follicles then grow hair through the closure, which is what separates a good result from an obvious one.
- We mark your new hairline position and infiltrate local anesthetic
- We make the incision and carry it into the temporal region within hair-bearing skin
- We release the scalp, advance it forward, and fix it through the bone tunnels
- We excise the excess forehead skin and close with dissolvable sutures
We sometimes place a drain for the first day to stop fluid collecting under the scalp.
How Many Centimetres the Hairline Can Be Lowered
In most single-stage cases the range is two to three centimetres. Tight scalps allow less: scalp laxity sets the ceiling on how far we can lower the hairline in one sitting. To reduce the size of the forehead beyond that, we stage the surgery. We will not promise a number before examining your scalp.
Ask our surgeons About Lowering Your Hairline
Every plan starts with a measurement of your own scalp. our surgeons, a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon practicing in facial plastic surgery, reviews your forehead height and hair density.
Scar Placement and Visibility After Forehead Surgery
Forehead surgery of this kind leaves a permanent scar. We say that first. It is the objection worth addressing directly rather than around.
Where the Scar Sits and How Hair Grows Through the Incision Line
The scar runs along your new hairline, ear to ear at the front and tapering into the temporal hair. Because we bevel the incision through the hair follicles, hair growth resumes through and in front of the closure, and that provides the camouflage.
Early on the line is pink and obvious. Scar maturation continues for months and most scars soften and fade, though unfavorable scarring is a recognised complication and outcomes vary. Some patients later have us place a few FUE hair grafts for extra scar camouflage. If you shave your head, this is not your operation.
Recovery, Risks and Results of Forehead Reduction
We close with dissolvable sutures and see you for your first follow-up within the first week.
The First Two Weeks, and What Settles Over Three Months
When | What to expect |
Days 1 to 3 | Swelling and bruising peak. Tightness across the forehead is normal |
Week 1 | First follow-up appointment. Most swelling subsiding |
Days 10 to 14 | Strenuous activity resumed. Bruising largely gone |
Weeks 2 to 12 | Numbness fades gradually. Scar maturation continues |
Hypoesthesia of the scalp behind the incision follows the cut sensory nerves and resolves over months. Temporary shedding near the incision line can occur, and itching is routine. Our pre- and post-procedure instructions cover wound care and aftercare, and recovery after a brow lift covers the same region in more depth.
Risks We Discuss With You Before You Book
- Hematoma, a collection of blood under the scalp in the first hours, drained under local anesthetic
- Infection, which is rare and managed with aseptic technique and antibiotics
- Injury to the frontal branch of the facial nerve, rare and usually temporary, showing as reduced forehead movement and a lowered eyebrow on one side
- Bleeding, poor wound healing, brow asymmetry, and a visible scar or other unfavorable scarring
The change in forehead height is visible immediately, and permanent results are the expectation: your hairline does not migrate back. Healing and final appearance vary.
Request Your Hairline Lowering Consultation at Clinique Face MD
We are a facial plastic surgery clinic in Montreal. Call (514) 447-9435 or book online to have your scalp, hairline and forehead height assessed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lowering a High Hairline
How long does hairline surgery last?
The change is structural: your advanced hairline stays where we fixed it. Age-related changes and, in men, later pattern hair loss can still alter it. Results vary.
What is the difference between forehead reduction and a brow lift?
Opposite directions. Forehead reduction lowers your hairline and shortens the forehead; a brow lift surgery, or forehead lift, raises your eyebrows and treats forehead lines, often raising the hairline slightly. With both a high hairline and heavy brows, we plan the two together for facial balance and better facial proportions.
Can hairline lowering be combined with other facial surgery?
We commonly combine it with a forehead lift, with reduction of frontal bossing in facial feminization surgery, and with eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, or rhinoplasty. We decide combinations case by case at consultation.
How much does forehead reduction surgery cost in Montreal?
Cost depends on operating time, the anaesthetic and whether we combine the procedure with anything else. We publish our surgical prices rather than quote a range that will not match your plan. This surgery is not covered by provincial insurance in Quebec.
The surgeons at Clinique Face MD
Surgical procedures are performed by head and neck surgeons (otolaryngology–head and neck surgery) practicing in facial plastic surgery at Clinique Face MD, members of the Collège des médecins du Québec and certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.