Woman had hairline lowering procedure and had terrible complications

This woman reported hair loss in the frontal area (see pictures) about 2 months after she had a hairline lowering surgical procedure.  These procedures are common surgeries for women who can have their hairlines lowered about an inch directly by advancing the scalp forward and surgically removing the upper forehead. The good news about this surgery is that the results, which are often terrific, are immediate and this patient reported better initial results from this surgery than she thought she would have; however, after two months she began losing hair as shown in the pictures and this hair never came back.

Hair-loss from any forehead surgery, including brow lifts or even extended face lifts, have hair-loss as an infrequent complication. In women over 40, when this happens, the hair-loss rarely returns. There is probably some genetic predisposition to this problem in these women that might eventually show up when they pass menopause. Unfortunately, this woman not only had the hair-loss as shown, but a visible scar from where the hairline was sutured to the upper forehead.  The good news is that she does not have to live with this problem as a hair transplant can put the hair back and cover the scar so that she will eventually be normal with no visible scar. Somehow, this woman was not aware of this risk, and this is the tragedy. Every surgery runs a risk and we try to spell this out during our consultations and in the ‘informed consent’ that every patient signs before surgery.