Measurement of changes in forehead height after endoscopic forehead lift

Background Endoscopic forehead lift effectively corrects brow ptosis, and is less invasive and has fewer complications than classic forehead lift. Therefore, endoscopic procedures are often used instead of making a coronal incision. However, very few studies have investigated changes in the height of the hairline and documented exact values regarding the extent of forehead elongation after these procedures. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the degree to which the height of the forehead changes after endoscopic forehead lift. Methods Patients' medical records were retrospectively analyzed and measurements of clinical photography were made to investigate changes in the height of the forehead after the procedure. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (n=33) and an age-matched control group (n=33) for analysis; the experimental group comprised those who underwent endoscopic forehead lift from January 2015 to March 2018, and the control group comprised those who underwent upper blepharoplasty without forehead rejuvenation from July 2009 to September 2017. Results The changes between the preoperative and postoperative height of the forehead in the experimental group were not statistically significant (right, P=0.163; left, P=0.256; midline, P=0.545). However, the changes in the height of the forehead in the control group were statistically significant on the right side (P=0.026) and left side (P=0.028), but not at the midline (P=0.244). Conclusions We investigated the extent of forehead elongation that occurred in cases of endoscopic forehead lift and verified that significant forehead height changes did not occur after endoscopic forehead lift.