The incisions used for an upper eyelid lift (blepharoplasty) are depicted in the images.

A) The incision is placed into the natural eyelid crease and extends outward into one of the crows feet.

B) When the eye is open the incision will be hidden by the eyelid crease.

1) Endoscopic forehead and brow lift: this surgery is designed to minimize scarring by placing the incisions in the hairline. There are a total of 4 incisions required, two in the temples and two very small incisions in the frontal hairline. When healed the incisions are hidden by the surrounding hair.

Endoscopic brow lifts place the incisions far from the surgical site and require cameras, monitors and technology to aid the surgeon. This procedure is designed for someone that requires lifting of the entire eyebrow and forehead. The surgery typically takes about 1.5 hours and requires sedation anesthesia. Downtime is about 7-10 days.

Men with temporal or frontal recession typically do not have enough hair for coverage and are not great candidates for this approach.

* Individual Results May Vary

2) Forehead shortening (trichophytic brow lift): Dr. Kolstad offers this unique approach to accomplish two goals with one surgery. Using a special beveled incision just behind the hairline the eyebrows can be lifted and the forehead shortened at the same time. Ideal candidates for this surgery have relatively long foreheads want to shorten then distance between the hairline and eyebrows.

A limitation of the endoscopic browlift is that everything, including the hairline, is lifted upwards and backwards. Dr. Kolstad believes that the forehead shortening brow lift creates a more youthful appearance for most people with average to long foreheads. This type of surgery has a longer recovery than the endoscopic lift. The shortcomings of the trichophytic brow lift are numbness lasting several months or longer behind the incision and the potential for a less hidden incision.

* Individual Results May Vary

3) Minibrow / temple lift: this procedure is designed for someone with lateral hooding and fullness of the outer part of the eyelid. A temple lift raises the lateral (outer) eyebrow without raising the inner corner. Dr. Kolstad’s Advanced Eyelid Lift combines a minibrow and upper blepharoplasty and is his most popular upper eyelid rejuvenation technique. Two incisions are placed into the temporal hairline and are camouflaged by the surrounding hair.

4) Direct browlift: men with temporal or frontal hair loss are not acceptable candidates for endoscopic, forehead shortening or minibrow lifts. All three of the procedures use thick hairlines to camouflage the incisions. Men with hair loss and deep forehead creases are ideal candidates for direct brow lifts. Dr. Kolstad removes 1-2 cm of skin above the eyebrows to raise them to a more youthful location. The resulting scar appears like a normal wrinkle in the forehead.

* Individual Results May Vary

For most men Dr. Kolstad advises against brow lifting surgery. Hollywood has countless examples of men that had eyebrows lifted much too high. Over-elevating a man’s brow does not make the person look any younger. They just look different. Dr. Kolstad’s philosophy is to never raise men’s eyebrows unless absolutely necessary.

5) Coronal browlift: this historical type of surgery may have contemporary indications, but Dr. Kolstad does not know of any. For most patients there are more modern and more effective techniques to lift the eyebrows and forehead.

The incision used for a lower eyelid lift (blepharoplasty) is depicted in the image.

A) The incision is placed just under the eyelashes and extends into one of the crows feet laterally. The scar is camouflaged by the eyelashes and difficult to find in most cases.

Dr. Kolstad has several different techniques to get your lower eyelids looking their best.  Aging in the lower eyelids is typically due to three things, bulging fat, hollowing and loose skin.  Dr. Kolstad uses four different procedures that he tailors to meet the signs of aging in your eyes.

1. ‘Scarless’ blepharoplasty: this procedure is designed for youthful eyelids that have fat bulging creating a tired, puffy appearance.
   Fat bags prominent at an early age are frequently hereditary and can make the eyes look much older then a persons actual age.  Dr. Kolstad employs a transconjunctival (inside the eyelid) incision to access the fat. There are no skin
   incisions and no external scarring.

2. Skin tightening lower blepharoplasty: this surgery removes excess skin from the lower eyelids.  Not everyone has prominent lower eyelid fat bulging through the lower eyelid.  For patients looking to tighten skin without removing fat Dr. Kolstad utilizes the skin pinch blepharoplasty technique.  This procedure is safe to perform in the office using local anesthesia.

3. Combined lower blepharoplasty: by far the most common type of lower eyelid surgery combines the gentle excision of lower eyelid fat with skin tightening. Dr. Kolstad addresses the fat bags through the transconjunctival approach and tightens the skin on the surface.  This modern blepharoplasty technique is less invasive and less likely to cause ectropion or eyelid malpositions after surgery.

4. Fat grafting blepharoplasty: Some eyelids age by hollowing. Dr. Kolstad’s preferred technique for rejuvenation of hollowing is to borrow fat from the lower body and transfer fat grafts to the cheeks, midface and orbital area. Fat grafting blepharoplasty is the most technically challenging type of eyelid surgery Dr. Kolstad performs.