What it means for a patient
- A brow lift can be done with a camera-guided instrument, avoiding the long incision across the top of the head.
- The procedure also weakens the muscles that cause frown lines and forehead lines.
- Brow elevation in this series was described as moderate.
- Limits: 32 patients, no outcome numbers or complication data in the abstract, and no comparison with the open coronal lift.
Why this paper matters
It reported early clinical use of endoscopy for brow lifting and showed in cadavers that the method could reach several areas of the face. It moved brow lifting toward approaches without the coronal incision.
Overview
The question was whether endoscopic techniques could replace open approaches in aesthetic surgery of the face. The authors first tested the techniques in fresh cadaver heads on the cheeks, forehead, orbit, nose and nasal septum. They then report clinical experience with endoscopic coronal brow lifting in 32 patients.
Findings
- Fresh cadaver head studies showed endoscopic techniques were feasible for the cheeks, forehead, orbit, nose and nasal septum.
- 32 patients had coronal brow lifting with endoscopic techniques.
- The ear-to-ear coronal incision was eliminated.
- The approach divided and weakened the corrugator, procerus and frontalis muscles.
- It produced moderate elevation of the eyebrows.
- Excess skin was accommodated by dissecting the scalp backward toward the occiput, rather than cut out.
- The abstract reports no complication rates, follow-up length or measured brow height.
Terms
- Endoscope: a thin tube with a camera and light, passed through a small opening to see and operate inside.
- Coronal brow lift: a forehead lift done through an incision across the top of the scalp from ear to ear.
- Corrugator: the muscle that pulls the brows together and makes vertical frown lines.
- Procerus: the muscle between the brows that makes horizontal lines at the top of the nose.
- Frontalis: the forehead muscle that raises the brows and makes horizontal forehead lines.
- Occiput: the back of the head.
- Cadaver study: research done on donated human bodies.