VF Lift Restore for hollow temples and forehead:
your own fat, not filler

What VF Lift Restore does for hollow temples and the forehead

Hollow temples and a hollow forehead are among the areas where the Restore mode of the VF Lift is used. The VF Lift – Vertical Facelift is Dr Sin Yong's protocol on Volnewmer, a 6.78 MHz monopolar radiofrequency platform with continuous water cooling. Most zones are set to Lift or Sculpt; Restore is customised to hollow areas and is used to stimulate the patient's own fat to regenerate. Over the temples and the forehead, including a central forehead hollow, that is its whole purpose.

Dr Sin Yong once used filler in the forehead and the central forehead hollow, and in the temples. He now prefers energy-based treatment for almost every concern that injectables are used for, because it adds no product that can cause overfilling, migration or lumps. The volume that any response brings is the patient's own tissue. Any change builds gradually rather than appearing on the day, and how much is seen varies between people and with age.

The same mode is used under the eyes, over the lateral cheeks, in the prejowl sulcus in front of the jowl and on hollow areas of the body. The wider approach is on face lifting without fillers.

Why temples and the forehead hollow, and why it changes the eyes

The temple is a shallow bowl of bone with a muscle in it, and three things change with age. The bone remodels, so the cheekbone arch and the outer rim of the eye socket stand out more. The fat thins: the layer under the skin and the temporal fat pads deflate, part of a wider pattern in which facial fat compartments deflate and descend (Rohrich 2007). And the temporalis muscle loses bulk with age, weight loss or endurance training. On the forehead, the fat over the frontal bone thins and the bone contour shows through.

A hollow temple rarely presents as a hollow temple. People notice that the eyes look smaller or more tired, that the tail of the brow has dropped, or that the face has taken on a pinched outline, wide at the forehead and cheekbones and narrow between. That is why the temples and forehead are often planned with the brow and the eye area; see VF Lift around the eyes.

Not every flat forehead or deep temple is an ageing change. Some faces are built that way, and then the aim is to soften a contour rather than restore one.

“I used to fill the central forehead hollow. Now I use Restore there, because the volume that comes back is the patient's own and there is nothing to drift towards the eyelids.”

Dr Sin YongOn treating hollow temples and forehead

Restore or temple filler: which suits which hollow

Restore and filler answer the same hollow in different ways. Filler adds product to occupy space; Restore adds nothing and works on what is there. Dr Sin Yong still uses filler as needed, but sparingly, and the choice is made at assessment.

Temple filler, its materials and its planes are explained on temple fillers, and forehead filler on forehead fillers. The two approaches are compared more broadly on VF Lift vs fillers.

After earlier forehead or temple filler: what comes first

Many people asking about Restore have had filler in the forehead, brow or temples before. That filler is assessed before any heat is planned, because Restore is not placed over material that is still settling, and because filler in these areas can move into the upper eyelids, sometimes years later. Ultrasound shows where it sits and what it is likely made of. Hyaluronic acid can be dissolved; collagen stimulators such as CaHA, PCL and PLLA cannot, and their excess is remodelled with the Sculpting mode of Time Freeze Laser LCLR®, which can be used together with the VF Lift in one plan.

Once the earlier product has been dealt with, the face is reassessed, and only then is it clear whether a hollow remains for Restore to address. Ridges, a heavy brow or swollen upper lids after filler are covered on forehead and temple filler gone wrong.

Who suits Restore for the temples and forehead, and the risks

Restore over the temples and forehead suits soft-tissue hollowing in someone who prefers nothing injected and accepts a gradual, variable response. It is often part of the plan for people recovering from a filler problem, once that problem has been assessed and treated, and for lean faces in which Dr Sin Yong would not plan focused ultrasound.

The temple and forehead have thin skin over bone and a thin layer of fat, so energy is set conservatively and adjusted to the heat you report, with water cooling throughout. A pacemaker or other implanted electronic device rules the VF Lift out, metal near the field changes the plan, and pregnancy or infection in the area means waiting. Expected effects are warmth, redness and mild swelling. Less commonly, too much heat in one spot can cause a blister or crust, a patch of altered sensation, or a dent where fat beneath thin skin has been over-heated, which over the temple shows as a deeper hollow. A new dent, persistent numbness, or a brow that will not lift should be reported the same day. Who suits the protocol more broadly is on VF Lift suitability.