12/17/2025
At the Gender Confirmation Center (GCC), our surgeons offer a series of cutting-edge techniques to feminize the shape of a patient’s forehead. Specifically, many of our patients experience gender dysphoria as a result of a protruding brow bone. This is one of the many possible results of a first, testosterone-dominant puberty. A facual feminization surgery (FFS) brow reduction–also called forehead feminization surgery, temple feminization, orbital bone shaving, and a frontal sinus setback– flattens the brow bone ridge, giving the forehead a flatter contour. This creates the effect of more visible, rounded eyes in addition to lifted eyebrows.
You can discuss forehead feminization and other FFS and facial masculinization surgery (FMS) options in-detail in a free consultation: virtually or in-person in our San Francisco or Pasadena offices. Currently, the following surgeons offer this procedure: Dr. Zara Ley (she/her/they), Dr. Alex Facque (he/him/his) & Dr. Efstathios Karamanos (he/him/his).
Before surgery, your surgeon will order a CT scan or x-ray of your facial bones to determine which type of surgery works best. For most individuals who seek a brow bone reduction surgery, the brow bone itself is too thin to be fully shaved down, since it sits in front of a sinus cavity. In this case, the front wall of the frontal sinus can be removed, contoured, and then secured back in place using titanium or absorbable plates and screws to flatten the forehead or "set back" the frontal sinus.
In a small number of people, about 4-5% of the population, the front wall of the frontal sinus is thick enough that it can be shaped to achieve the desired effect without being removed or “set back”.
Our surgeons often combine brow bone reduction surgery with reshaping the supraorbital ridge (the bones above the eye socket) to help feminize the eye shape. Reshaping the orbital bones allows for greater lifting of the brows for patients who want that done as well.
Learn more at genderconfirmation.com ✨
