Women Face Permanent Scars and Hair Loss Following TikTok’s Forehead Lowering Surgery Craze

Experts warn that young women are putting themselves at risk for lifelong scarring and permanent hair loss by undergoing cosmetic procedures to lower their hairline.

Costing between £5,000 and £7,000 in the UK, the surgery (originally a treatment for men with receding hairlines) has been popularized on social media by cosmetic companies and a smaller forehead to ‘balance facial proportions’ and ‘boost’. ‘ was widely promoted by former patients who claimed to be trust’.

The operation involves cutting across the woman’s scalp and pulling the hairline forward.

Online advertisements promise that patients will fully recover within a week and leave no obvious scars. On the video-sharing app TikTok, a clip showing a woman with a hairline transformation attracted 44 million viewers.

However, experts point out that if the skin is pulled too tight, the supply of blood and oxygen to the face is restricted, resulting in skin tissue necrosis and hair loss.

“In extreme cases, if the surgery goes wrong, the dead tissue becomes infected and the infection spreads under the skin to the rest of the scalp,” says facial plastic surgeon Dr. Greg Bran. ‘This leads to patches of permanent hair loss, chronic pain and persistent infection.’

According to Dr. Bran, who performs the procedure at his Harley Street clinic, an increasing number of patients require corrective surgery due to incorrect operations.

“Some doctors jump on the trend without understanding the structure of the face, and patients are suffering,” he said.

Joanna Gawor, a 27-year-old midwife, paid £1,300 for treatment in Poland in October 2021. she says. I knew the surgery to lower it would leave a scar, but the doctor assured me that the hair would grow back to cover it.’

When Joanna woke up from surgery, her forehead was swollen and painful, and after the dressing was removed, parts of the scar had turned black and the skin had started peeling. She was suffering necrosis, where her blood supply to her tissues was cut off, causing her tissues to rot and die. she says. ‘It left a big red scar and all the hair on her forehead fell out.’

On TikTok, many patients seem delighted with the results. One woman, reviewing a procedure she had a month ago, says she ‘liked’ the change. She said, ‘She feels like 18 again!’ she speaks to the camera Another patient named Madison wrote on Instagram: ‘I finally feel and look the way I always wanted. I have about a month left from the surgery and you can’t even see my scars.’

Hairline lowering surgery was developed in the late 1990s to treat male pattern baldness. It’s also been used for sex reassignment surgery over the past decade, but experts say its explosion in popularity is a result of fake images on Instagram and TikTok. ‘The manipulated photos and videos have changed the perfect female face that young women perceive,’ says Dr. Bran.

“I used to do hairline surgery once or twice a month. It has increased to at least twice weekly over the past year.’

During the three-hour procedure, the surgeon cuts a band of skin on the forehead below the hairline. Through a small hole drilled in the skull, a metal implant can pull the bone forward and anchor the bone to the skin. The wound is then stitched up. Dr. Greg Williams, a hair restoration expert at the Farjo Hair Institute in London, says: It can be placed on the forehead skin or be a different color. Fringe is needed to hide it.

‘Surgeons have to be very skilled to hide wounds. The risk is downplayed by social media influencers, who suggest it’s easy and everything will work out.’

In May, Joanna underwent corrective surgery with Dr. Bran to trim her scars and reshape her hairline. “Her wound has healed well,” she said. ‘The scar is barely visible. It’s been a long road, but I’m finally happy with my results.’