A Comparison Between Parallel Hairline Incisions and Perpendicular Incisions when Performing a Face Lift

Abstract

Our profession has not decided if it is better to incise parallel or perpendicular (at an angle) to hair follicles when performing a brow lift or a face lift. Thirty patients had one side incised parallel and the other side incised perpendicular to hair follicles. Neither the patients nor the examiners knew how each side was incised. By comparing the invisibility, the nonlinearity, the absence of hypopigmentation, and the abundance of hair into and in front of the scar, we obtained statistical proof that if we incised perpendicular to hair follicles (to preserve the deep follicles in the proximal flap), scars were better in 95 percent of patients.

Extended Infrabrow Excision Blepharoplasty for Dermatochalasis in Asians

“…Herein, we describe extended IBEB, whereby skin excision is extended to a substantial part of intrabrow skin and the intrabrow incision is made perpendicular to the hair shaft. 5 Postoperative regrowth of the eyebrow through the scar covers the incision location and alleviates eyebrow reduction. Although extended IBEB has many advantages, it has some shortcomings.…”

Biodynamic Excisional Skin Tension (BEST) Lines: Revisiting Langer’s Lines, Skin Biomechanics, Current Concepts in Cutaneous Surgery, and the (lack of) Science behind Skin Lines used for Surgical Excisions

“…Both these also make the scalp especially suited to the use of saline expanders, sometimes for several weeks or months [130] or even rapid intraoperative expansion [131] . Camirand and Doucet compared parallel and perpendicular hairline incisions, and concluded that incisions perpendicular to the direction of the hair follicle allow hair to grow through the hairline incision and give a more natural cosmetic appearance [132] . More than anywhere else, rotational skin flaps are employed on the scalp to close larger defects and single, double and triple flaps have been described in detail [133] .…”

Lift of cheek and neck: technical notes

“…Scalp extension to create sideburns, which are beveled as described by Frechet [17] and scalloped as described by Camirand and Doucet, [18] opens the superior tunnel in a manner that allows for suspension of the SMAS to the temporalis fascia [ Figure 7a]. [19] However, the result is a visible scar that cannot be erased [ Figure 7b].…”

“…The scalloped incision is beveled according to the method of Frechet, in the area of hair-bearing skin. The scalloped incision developed by Camirand and Doucet [18] aids tremendously in dealing with the retroauricular dog-ear. After removing excess skin, the straight long excision edge of the flap is sutured into the scalloped edge, from back to the front, keeping the hairline intact.…”