There are two main approaches to lowering the hairline and reducing the size of the forehead, hair transplant, and forehead reduction, To understand the difference between the two approaches, it is important to know how each procedure is done. Hair transplant is done to improve the appearance of balding in areas such as the hairline, temples, and the crown, doctors use modern techniques such as Follicular Unit Transfer (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) to move individual hair follicles from the back of the scalp to bald or thinned areas, this procedure is made to improve hair thickness, and to give you a natural look. People who suffer from pattern baldness or thinning hair would benefit a lot from this procedure.
On the other hand, forehead reduction is a procedure that is efficient in lowering the height of your hairline. As you know, the typical hairline is somewhere between 5 to 6.5 centimeters above your brows for men and 4 to 6 cm for women, so, any hairline above this height can make your appearance disproportionate. During a forehead reduction surgery, the doctor will create an incision at your natural hairline and removes a portion of your forehead tissue to advance your scalp, and lower your hairline. This surgery is more popular among men and women who suffer from a receding hairline. The space on the forehead between the eyebrows and hairline should be measured to decide whether you are a great candidate for this procedure or not. In addition, we can tell you that both forehead reductions and hair transplants will give you natural and long-term results.
Which one is better: Hair Transplant or Forehead Reduction?
You can determine which procedure is better for your case if you understand your situation entirely; both procedures are designed to solve your hair loss problem but in a different way.
People usually do a hair transplant at the hairline to solve male pattern or female pattern baldness; especially, if they have a history of gradual, and hereditary hair loss, which is not related to any medical condition, in addition to people who suffer from hair loss due to trauma. Hair transplant is also great for both men and women who wish to hide scarring near the hairline, and correct thin, patchy, or absent facial hair, it can be performed on the eyebrows, mustache, or beard area.
While forehead reduction is done to move a much greater amount of hair in one procedure, it can help balance the proportion of your face especially if you suffer from a disproportionately high hairline. In addition to increasing the density of hair at the hairline and natural exit of hair which can be addressed and treated. Men and women with a naturally high hairline or large forehead or people who have thick hair and no personal or familial history of hair loss are the best candidates for forehead reduction. In addition to that, keep in mind that good scalp laxity and hair density are important factors too for considering this procedure.
A big advantage to forehead reduction is that you don’t need to wait to see the result of the procedure, you can see your hairline gets lowered and your forehead gets reduced in size once the surgery is completed. However, the main disadvantage of forehead reduction is scarring. As you know, this method involves creating a long incision in the hairline area. However, this scar won’t be very visible depending on the surgeon’s skill, and the patient’s hairstyle, and the quality of healing.
How to choose between hair transplant and forehead reduction?
If you find yourself wondering between hair transplant and forehead reduction, you should know that combining the two procedures will give you even better results. This means that after doing a forehead reduction to lower your hairline with the incisional method, your doctor will transplant a certain number of hair grafts, and implant them around the hairline scar in order to make the hairline even thicker and better than before, in addition to concealing the possible scar. The two procedures can be done at the same time or a few months apart.
Choosing the right procedure for your case is very important; so, if you have thinning hair in the temple region, we usually recommend doing a hair transplant to improve hair density in that area. However, if you have minimal laxity to your scalp, you could require two procedures to achieve the wanted results. The first procedure would involve stretching your scalp with a balloon-type tissue expander followed by a second procedure that lowers the hairline.
However, if you feel that your forehead is disproportionately large for your face due to your hairline, eyebrows, or other features, and you’re willing to accept risks like damaged nerves, or scarring, speak to your doctor about forehead reduction and the alternatives such as hair transplant.
References:
https://www.utahfacialplastics.com/2021/05/13/forehead-reduction-or-hair-transplant/
https://www.healthline.com/health/forehead-reduction-surgery
