Elimination of glabellar frown lines.

A variety of procedures have been proposed for the elimination of glabellar frown lines, which indicates that a totally satisfactory method is not yet available. This abnormality may be noted in some younger patients who may have no other signs of aging. Meloplasty, blepharoplasty, and brow-lift operations uniformly fail to improve the deformity and, in fact, may render it more noticeable. With the use of a combination of four different procedures, glabelloplasties were performed in 38 patients. These four procedures included dermabrasion of the rhytids, avulsion of the corrugator supercilii muscles, subdermal augmentation with autogenous dermis or fat, and eversion closure with running horizontal mattress sutures. These 38 patients in whom glabelloplasties were performed were studied for an average follow-up period of 13 months. Substantial improvement was noted in 34 patients. Of this group, the conditions in 22 patients were considered good, and the conditions in 12 patients were regarded as fair. In the remaining four patients, the improvement was either slight or temporary, and the operation was regarded as a failure.