Aesthetic surgery of the supraorbital ridge and forehead structures.

A physical anthropologic basis for aesthetic evaluation of the supraorbital ridges and forehead is described. The structures included for evaluation and possible treatment are the supraorbital ridges, relation of the orbital walls to the eyes, the temporal ridges, and slope of the forehead. All can be altered by reduction contouring or augmentation using methods described. Twenty-one patients are presented having procedures for purely aesthetic reasons. If more than 5 to 6 mm of augmentation or reduction is desired, the deformity is more than aesthetic and should be treated by a craniofacial team. The aesthetic restructuring procedures described are done using tissue localized to the cranium and have proven to be safe and free of complications in the patients treated. Physical anthropology helps to put the aesthetics of these procedures on a firmer basis and to determine which patients may require more than an extracranial aesthetic procedure.