The Unlikely Rise of Forehead-Reduction Surgery

The internet, particularly social media, is chock-full of plastic surgery trends and filler fads. In this guide, we explore the most recent one gaining traction: forehead-reduction surgery. Is it safe? Does it work? (What does “working” even mean in this context?) After you’re done getting the real story, check out more of Allure’s plastic surgery coverage.  

In one TikTok video, Camilla Colbro is sitting in a car. She’s wearing bandages wrapped around her head, topped with a beanie. Then the video jumps to Colbro with her hair in braids, a thin, red scar just beneath her hairline. 

Colbro, a TikTok creator, was sharing her forehead-reduction surgery results with her nearly 500,000 followers. The video updates of her surgery netted views in the millions, topping out at 44 million views for her big post-op reveal.

Forehead-reduction surgery (also known as a forehead lift) is a relatively new procedure now making the rounds on social media. You can see some dramatic before-and-after pics and read accounts of relatively short recovery times that are helping to put this once under-the-radar surgery under a TikTok-size spotlight.

Jordan Hudson, 28, who had the procedure done to lower her hairline by an inch, also documented her experience on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. She posted pre-op, post-op, and daily updates across her channels, and Hudson says a lot of women have reached out to her as they prepare for their own forehead reduction, “which has been awesome,” she tells Allure. 

Now, some plastic surgeons are getting in on the action, posting videos of patients’ before-and-afters to highlight the seemingly quick, easy procedure (also called hairline-lowering by surgeons). 

Meet the Experts:

Jaimie DeRosa, MD, is a facial plastic surgeon in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida, who is double board-certified in otolaryngology and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Norman Rowe, MD, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City.

Natalie Attenello, MD, is a facial plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, double board-certified in otolaryngology and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.

That’s led more and more people to go under the knife. “A lot of my patients say that they didn’t know there was something that could be done for their [forehead],” says Jaimie DeRosa, MD, a double board-certified plastic surgeon in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida. “And then discovered forehead-reduction surgery on Instagram or TikTok.”