A hollow forehead can make you look drawn, especially in photos, where a shadow across the middle of the forehead makes you look unlucky.
You want to fill the forehead to look healthier, but you worry that after Ellanse in the forehead you will end up with a goldfish forehead or a "longevity god" bulge instead.
To avoid the many failures of "lumpy and uneven" Ellanse foreheads seen on Dcard and PTT, this article mainly shares the most suitable materials for forehead filling and how to fill a hollow forehead safely.
Key Points Index
Key Points Index
- What to do about a hollow forehead? How to get a fuller forehead?
- The best solution for a hollow forehead: Ellanse forehead
- Failed Ellanse forehead: lumpy, uneven forehead
- Steps for injecting Ellanse into the forehead
- Ellanse forehead FAQ: Can Ellanse be injected into the forehead? Does Ellanse in the forehead hurt? If I'm worried Ellanse will fail, can I use forehead hyaluronic acid? How many cc of Ellanse does the forehead need? How long does Ellanse in the forehead last? Can forehead injections cause blindness? How much does Ellanse in the forehead cost?
What to do about a hollow forehead? How to get a fuller forehead?
The direct answer: a hollow forehead is mainly improved by filling, and there are three aesthetic filler materials: Ellanse, Radiesse and hyaluronic acid. I recommend Ellanse for the forehead most, as its feel is closest to a natural forehead and most patients report it lasts over 3 years; the recommended dose is 2–3cc, and an insufficient dose actually makes the forehead more likely to turn out uneven.
When I first met my wife, there was a large shadow on her forehead in every date photo, and she looked tired. A fuller forehead is mainly achieved by filling, so the first aesthetic treatment I most wanted to do for my wife was forehead augmentation.
In the photo below, after I injected hyaluronic acid into her forehead, she looked like a lady of leisure (of course, maybe that's because I give her a comfortable life XD).
Whether you inject Ellanse or hyaluronic acid into the forehead, forehead filling is among the most dangerous and most difficult of all areas, comparable in difficulty to the tear trough, so choosing your doctor carefully is the way to avoid the tragedy of embolism.
Every year we hear news of people going blind after Ellanse injections in the forehead. I often see doctors on Xiaohongshu and YouTube augmenting the forehead with sharp needles, and it feels like watching a horror film, my heart pounding. The glabella area has a great many important blood vessels, and the safest approach is to use a blunt cannula throughout, which also ensures the forehead is laid down very evenly.
The main aesthetic ways to improve a hollow forehead are: Ellanse forehead, Radiesse forehead, forehead hyaluronic acid, forehead fat grafting, and Gortex forehead implant. Of these, there are three aesthetic filler materials for the forehead, and this article mainly discusses the pros and cons of these three.
| Ellanse forehead | Radiesse forehead | Forehead hyaluronic acid | Forehead fat grafting | Gortex implant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | 3–4 years | 2–3 years | 1–2 years | 3–5 years | 5+ years |
| Dose | 2cc | 3cc | 3cc | – | – |
| Cost | NT$45,000–50,000 | NT$40,000–50,000 | NT$30,000–40,000 | NT$50,000–70,000 | NT$100,000–150,000 |
| Pros | Very long-lasting, closest to the real feel of the forehead | Firm enough, low nodule probability | Lower cost, can be dissolved | I can't think of any advantages; the one I recommend least | Longest duration |
| Cons | Cannot be dissolved if it fails; make sure your doctor has forehead augmentation experience | Cannot be dissolved if it fails; make sure your doctor has forehead augmentation experience | Prone to the memory-pillow effect | Feels like a goldfish forehead | Prone to a foreign-body sensation |
The most suitable dose for filling a hollow forehead is 2–3cc; with less than 2cc, an uneven forehead is very likely. Imagine forehead filling as paving an asphalt road: Ellanse is like asphalt that has to level the hollow forehead, but if the dose is not enough, the road will not be even.
An Ellanse forehead that looks too bulging is usually not because too much was injected but because it was injected too shallow. The hyaluronic acid or Ellanse is pushed toward the middle by the forehead-raising muscle, forming an abnormal bulge.
In the case below, my patient had a total of 3cc of Ellanse in the forehead; her forehead only became flat and did not bulge (the photo below was taken immediately after treatment and includes the volume of the anesthetic); the volume usually decreases by about 10% once the swelling goes down.
The best solution for a hollow forehead: Ellanse forehead
There are three main materials for forehead filling: Ellanse / Radiesse / hyaluronic acid. I prefer to recommend an Ellanse forehead or a Radiesse forehead, because forehead hyaluronic acid is prone to the memory-pillow effect.
Ellanse forehead is, in my view, the most suitable of all materials for forehead augmentation. Its feel is closest to a natural forehead, and most patients report it lasts over 3 years, so if the budget allows, going straight to Ellanse can indeed achieve the best treatment result.
Ellanse is a collagen stimulator whose main components are a 70% CMC gel carrier and 30% PCL microspheres. The 70% gel provides an immediate filling effect at the time of injection, after which the gel is gradually metabolized and replaced by collagen that your own body grows.
The case below is Ellanse forehead 2cc + temples 2cc, laid flat with a blunt cannula; from the side you can see the forehead should not bulge. Many clinics use sharp needles for the forehead, which is not only very dangerous and may cause embolism, but also makes it easy to fail to lay the filler flat, resulting in unevenness.
Failed Ellanse forehead: lumpy, uneven forehead
An Ellanse forehead must succeed and cannot be allowed to fail; its fatal flaw is that it cannot be dissolved. That is why on Facebook, Dcard, PTT and other communities you often see people complaining of Ellanse foreheads with unevenness, hard lumps and various side effects. For an Ellanse forehead, one needs not only a deep understanding of forehead anatomy but also to master the injection dose; too much or too little can both lead to a failed Ellanse forehead.
Steps for injecting Ellanse into the forehead
The biggest key to injecting Ellanse into the forehead is this: inside the forehead there are actually "2 walls" that divide the forehead into "3 rooms" (left, middle, right). The walls are a layer of fibers that lie roughly directly above the eyeballs and run all the way from the eyes to the top of the head.
If, during an Ellanse forehead injection, these two walls are not opened up as in the picture below, then even with a dose as low as 1–2cc, the filler will be squeezed into one of the rooms and swell together like a "longevity god," becoming the tragedy of a failed, finally uneven Ellanse forehead seen on Dcard.
In the picture below, the three rooms of the forehead have been opened into one, and the hollow forehead becomes one wide basin. Forehead augmentation usually needs 2–3cc of Ellanse or hyaluronic acid to fill the hollow completely. If the dose is not enough, Ellanse cannot fill the whole hollow forehead, causing the awkward situation of local unevenness.
Bonus point:
If a patient's temples are on the hollow side, I strongly recommend injecting the temples at the same time. Otherwise, after Ellanse in the forehead the temples will look even more hollow and the cheekbones will look visually higher, which solves one problem while creating another.
The last part is where the experts show their skill! After the temples are filled, there is sometimes still a slight hollow and shadow at the junction between the temples and the forehead, and the doctor's aesthetic sense is needed to smooth the forehead and temples together! Then the Ellanse forehead is complete!
Ellanse forehead FAQ
Can Ellanse be injected into the forehead?
Ellanse is a collagen stimulator. Augmenting the forehead with Ellanse can regenerate collagen in the lost deep fat pad, and this "collagen feel" is closest to the actual feel of a forehead. So after discussing forehead aesthetics and augmentation with other aesthetic doctors at seminars, almost everyone agrees that Ellanse is the king of forehead-filling products.
In the past, forehead hyaluronic acid was almost entirely beaten by the Ellanse forehead. This is because hyaluronic acid is not "as firm as collagen," and if you press hard, the forehead will dent (we call this the memory-pillow effect).
Does injecting Ellanse into the forehead hurt?
If you search Dcard for forehead augmentation, you will see many Dcard users sharing that an Ellanse forehead really is "painful to the extreme," like a trip through hell.
In the spirit of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs, I also augmented my own forehead with a blunt cannula, and without slowly injecting anesthetic it really is quite painful.
My clinic currently uses a new technique for painless forehead augmentation – local nerve block. That is, a very small amount of anesthetic is injected at the root of the forehead nerves (the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves); after finding the nerve exit on the orbit, a small amount of anesthetic is injected precisely, and when opening up the 2 walls there is almost no pain, which is quite impressive! Some patients can even chat comfortably during the augmentation.
If I'm worried Ellanse will fail, can I use forehead hyaluronic acid?
That a failed Ellanse forehead cannot be dissolved is indeed its biggest drawback, but forehead hyaluronic acid has a fatal drawback of its own: it has a gel feel and the memory-pillow effect, so when pressed it dents like a memory pillow. Each has its pros and cons. I suggest finding a doctor with forehead augmentation experience, but injecting Ellanse or Radiesse looks better than hyaluronic acid.
How many cc of Ellanse does the forehead need?
The recommended dose of Ellanse for the forehead is usually 2–3cc. If the temples are very hollow, I suggest filling the temples together, for a total dose of about 4cc.
How long does Ellanse in the forehead last?
About 4–6 years. The forehead is a very special structure with quite few blood vessels and nerves, so metabolism is also much slower than in other areas. An Ellanse forehead can usually last more than three years without major problems; of course, local hollows may appear in the meantime, and another 1cc can be added to maintain the fullness.
Can forehead injections cause blindness?
Forehead augmentation is among the relatively higher-risk areas, so please make sure your doctor uses a blunt cannula to reduce the risk of embolism.
How much does Ellanse in the forehead cost?
For a dose of 2–3cc of Ellanse in the forehead, the cost is NT$40,000–60,000, depending on the amount of filler used.
