Risks & Complications of a Brow Lift

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Infection

Infection is a rare occurrence and should be avoided by the correct advice and prescriptions given to you after your operation, that if you follow, will dispel any chance of such an infection.

Effects on the Eyes

Various side-effects of a brow lift procedure can manifest and affect your eyes.

Double or blurred vision can be suffered after surgery, sometimes for a few hours, but this can also last for a couple of days. Ointment used around the eyes after surgery to stop infection and help recovery can produce such a side-effect, as can the anaesthetic, weakening of the muscles (caused by the surgery) and postoperative swelling and bruising. Double vision may also be due to damage to the muscles that operate the eyeball, this is extremely rare and should resolve itself.

The eyes can also become dry and/or watery after surgery the former must be combated with ointments which your doctor will prescribe, the latter is quite common due to irritation during the operation and swelling after it which will stop you from blinking properly.

The rarest form of complication is a collection of blood behind the eyeball or in the eyelids, this is medically called a haematoma. Though dangerous (it may sometimes result in the loss of sight), such a complication is rare because the plastic surgeon operating (termed an oculoplastic surgeon) will be trained to avoid and if necessary manage such a side-effect.

Due to bruising and swelling often a patient will struggle to cover their eyes with their eyelids, this should only last a short while and be compensated for by the prescription of artificial tear drops.

Abnormal Skin and Fat Removal

In some cases the removal of too much skin or fat can affect the appearance after surgery,  but a surgeon will be careful and conscientious when taking measurements to ensure that this does not happen. 

Eyes can look sunken if too much fat is removed from the eyelid during surgery, if this is the case then the surgeon can easily repair this in another surgery by replacing fat into the eyelid, to reach the desired effect.

If too much skin is removed during the operation then the eyelids may not completely descend and cover your eyes, such a consequence would be avoided by a specialist oculoplastic surgeon, who will make fine and accurate measurements of the area they are operating upon before commencing.

Numbness

Some patients feel numbness in their forehead after their operation, this is commonly due to the bruising there, which will affect the nerves beneath the skin. While usually this will recover in a couple of days, it may last as long as it takes for your bruising to subside fully.

Hair Loss

In some rare cases patients experience hair loss around the scar of the incision used to tighten the skin and raise the eyebrows. This only occurs in patients with thinning hair, and often the type of surgery that invades their hairline will not have been offered to them, and advised against. For those who experience hair loss, and do not have a receding hair line, the hair is expect to return after a few months, its loss is due to the restriction of blood flow to the area because of the surgeon’s incision.

Damage to Nerves

The effect of surgery upon the nerves in the forehead can induce a temporary paralysis in some patients after their operation. This paralysis can stop the upward movement of the eyebrows, and is often caused by a blunt trauma received during the surgery to the tissues or muscles. Most of the time such movement will be revived after a short period of time.

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