Forehead wrinkles when raising eyebrows: some lines are doing a job

Why do the lines only appear when you lift your brows?

Do the forehead wrinkles when raising eyebrows show up every time you talk on camera, and are you worried that an injection squeezed into a short Seoul trip could leave your brows heavy for weeks?

If your brows sit at a normal height, it usually won't. A light, evenly spread wrinkle-relaxing injection typically softens those lines within about two weeks and wears off over roughly three to four months. What decides it is whether your forehead is quietly holding your eyelids open. If it is, relaxing it can lower your brows and lids, and then I'd treat very lightly or not at all.

Hello, I'm Dr. Won Woo Choi, Medical Director at WELLS Clinic in Apgujeong, Seoul.

I trained in dermatology and was board-certified at Seoul National University Hospital. At WELLS, a board-certified dermatologist handles your consultation, diagnosis and treatment, so the doctor who judges your brow position is the one who injects. We do a 3D analysis before treatment. If you'd rather talk through something as fine as how heavy your lids feel in your own language, a medical interpreter is provided at no extra charge.

Not sure which group you're in? Film one short daylight clip of your forehead as you raise your brows and then let them drop, and send it on WhatsApp with one question: are my brows low enough that I should skip this? One clip is enough to start, and you can ask before you book anything.

The frontalis is the only muscle that raises your eyebrows. It covers the forehead like a broad sheet, and each time it contracts, the skin over it folds into horizontal lines. In your twenties those folds usually disappear as soon as you relax, which is what doctors call a dynamic line. After years of the same folding, a crease can stay even at rest. That's a static line.

Think of the frontalis as a pair of suspenders. Loosen them and the creases in the shirt smooth out, but the trousers sit a little lower too. A wrinkle-relaxing injection weakens the muscle's pull. That's why it softens forehead wrinkles when raising eyebrows, and it's also why it can lower brows that depended on that pull.

That trade-off is what this post is about. For most foreheads it's minor. For some, it's the whole question.

The muscles between and around your brows, the ones you frown with, pull the brows down, and they keep working when only the forehead is treated. If you relax the muscle that lifts your brows and leave the ones that pull them down at full strength, heavy brows are the usual result. That's why many dermatologists treat the frown area in the same session when the brows already sit low.

Who I'd treat lightly, and who I'd advise to leave it

Try this in front of a mirror before you book. Close your eyes and let your forehead go completely slack for ten seconds. Rest two fingertips just above your brows, then open your eyes slowly. If your brows climb back up as your eyes open, and your lids feel heavy without that lift, your forehead is helping you see.

That pattern is common with hooded upper lids or brows that sit close to the bony rim, and it becomes more common with age. In that case I wouldn't relax the whole forehead. At most I'd put a small amount high up near the hairline and leave the lower band that holds the brows alone. Sometimes the better advice is that the lines are doing a job and should stay. A smooth forehead that leaves your eyes feeling tired by mid-afternoon is a bad trade.

Other reasons to wait, or to skip it altogether:

Risks and side effects to know

• You're pregnant or breastfeeding.
• You have a nerve or muscle condition such as myasthenia gravis, or you've had trouble swallowing or breathing before.
• There's an infection, a rash or an active breakout on your forehead.
• You're allergic to an ingredient, or you reacted badly to a similar injection before.
• You take medicines that can strengthen the effect, such as some injected antibiotics or muscle relaxants. Bring the list with you.
• You have an event in less than two weeks, before the effect has settled.

If the lines stay when your face is completely still, the injection will make them fold less but won't erase a crease that's already etched in. For a hollow or sloping forehead, what forehead filler can and can't reshape is a separate question with its own risks.

Say you're 25, in Seoul for six days on a break from grad school in Toronto, and the lines only show when you're animated on video calls. Your brows sit well above the rim and your lids aren't hooded. A light dose is reasonable for you, and the timing matters more than the amount. Have it on day one or two, not day five, so you see the first change before you fly.

Now change one detail. Your lids are hooded, and when you do the mirror test, your brows drop. For that trip I'd suggest leaving the forehead alone and, if anything, looking only at the frown lines between the brows.

Heavy brows, a drooping lid, a raised outer brow: how often and how long

Most reactions are small: a pinpoint bleed or a bruise where the needle went in, a mild headache for a day or two, and slight swelling that settles within hours. The effects people actually worry about are three.

Brow heaviness is the most common unwanted effect on the forehead. It tends to appear in the first week or two and eases as the muscle recovers, often over a few weeks. It's more likely with low brows, hooded lids, or product placed too low on the forehead.

A drooping upper eyelid is less common. It happens when product spreads toward the muscle that lifts the lid. It's temporary and usually fades over several weeks, and a doctor can prescribe eye drops that raise the lid a little while you wait.

A raised outer brow, the arched, surprised look, comes from the outer forehead staying active while the center is relaxed. A doctor can usually soften it with a tiny extra amount in the right spot, which is one more reason to have the injection early in your stay, not the day before your flight.

Rarely, the effect spreads beyond the injection area. The US National Library of Medicine's drug information for these injections warns about trouble swallowing, speaking or breathing in the days to weeks after treatment, and any of those needs urgent care wherever you are. How strongly you react depends on your muscle strength, the dose and your anatomy, so treat this list as possibilities, not predictions.

If your brows or lids feel heavy once you're home, take a photo in the same light each day so you can see whether it's improving. See a local dermatologist or eye doctor if a lid droops. Before you leave Seoul, ask for the product name, the amount and a sketch of the injection points to take home, because a doctor at home can act faster with that in hand.

One thing to add before you book: the list of medicines and supplements you take, and what the mirror test showed you. Send them on WhatsApp and ask whether anything there changes the plan for your forehead.

Is the real problem your forehead's height rather than its lines?

People bothered by these lines are often also reading about forehead reduction or a forehead lift in Korea. Those are surgeries done by plastic surgeons. WELLS is a dermatology clinic, and neither of them is on our menu, so I won't suggest an injection can do their job. Relaxing the forehead doesn't change its height at all.

Without surgery, what changes how tall a forehead looks is the frame around it. A Korean-style see-through fringe shortens it the same day you get the haircut. If the hairline is moving back because the hair is thinning, rather than sitting high since birth, that's a hair-loss question, and we treat thinning hair as a separate problem.

Your brows matter as much as your hairline. If an old brow tattoo was drawn above your natural brow, it makes the forehead look shorter and draws the eye upward every time you lift. Fading an old brow tattoo with a pico laser changes the frame in a way no injection can.

What decides the cost of a forehead injection?

The figure for your forehead moves with a handful of things:

• How many areas: the forehead alone, or the forehead plus the frown lines, which is often the safer plan when brows sit low.
• How much product your forehead needs: this follows how strong the muscle is and how tall the forehead is, not a fixed number.
• The product: the one we use has US FDA approval, and your dermatologist explains it, its approved uses and its possible risks before injecting.
• Whether you add a skin treatment on the same trip.
• Your days in Seoul: a short stay can mean a lighter first dose.

For how a whole visit runs, including brands and price, see how a wrinkle-relaxing injection visit works at WELLS. If a brown haze across the forehead also bothers you, what moves the price of laser toning is worth knowing before you plan both in one trip.

To find out what your own forehead would cost, ask on WhatsApp and attach the same clip. Deposits and payment methods are settled after the consultation, so you can ask about them in that same message.

How many days in Seoul should you allow?

The injection takes minutes. The effect usually starts within a few days and peaks around two weeks, which is longer than most trips. So book it near the start of your stay. We're open Monday to Friday 10:00–20:00 and Saturday 10:00–17:00, with lunch 13:00–14:00, and we're closed on Sundays and holidays.

For the rest of that day, the usual advice is to avoid rubbing your forehead, lying flat for a few hours, saunas and hard workouts. Walking around the city is fine, and flying the next day is generally fine too.

Wherever you have it done, these questions are worth asking. It doesn't have to be at our clinic:

• Does the doctor who injects you also examine your brows and lids beforehand?
• Do they check your brow position with your eyes closed?
• Can you see the product before it's opened?
• If your brows sit low, will they treat the frown area too, and why?
• Will you leave with the product name, amount and injection points written down?
• Is an interpreter there if you need one?

Where I stand on forehead lines in your twenties

I don't see forehead wrinkles when raising eyebrows in your twenties as something that has to be erased. If they bother you in photos and your brows sit well, a light treatment is reasonable, and it wears off if you don't like it. If your forehead is holding your lids up, I'd rather tell you to leave it than give you three months of heavy eyes. You don't have to make either decision on this trip.

We're on the 8th floor of the Apgujeong B/D, 842 Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu, a five-minute walk from Apgujeong Station Exit 3. In person, how your brows behave with your eyes closed decides how much product you need and where it goes. Send your clip and your travel dates on WhatsApp, and ask whether those dates leave enough time to see the effect before you fly.

— Dr. Won Woo Choi, Medical Director · M.D., Ph.D.

Results and recovery vary by individual. Every treatment carries possible side effects, which are explained at the consultation. Prices are in Korean won, including 10% VAT, and confirmed at your consultation. This article is general information from the clinic, not a diagnosis.

Written by

Dr. Won Woo Choi

Medical Director · M.D., Ph.D. · WELLS Clinic, Apgujeong

• Board-certified dermatologist in Korea; trained at Seoul National University Hospital
• Dermatology residency, Seoul National University Hospital; board certification in dermatology in Korea
• Ph.D. in Dermatology, Seoul National University
• Former clinical instructor, Seoul National University Hospital
• Adjunct professor, Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Hospital

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