A brow lift, also called a forehead lift, repositions the eyebrows and smooths the forehead. It is a much smaller market than eyelid surgery: the American Society of Plastic Surgeons counted 15,506 forehead lifts by member surgeons in its 2025 Procedural Statistics Report against 118,978 eyelid surgeries. Fewer practices competing means worse price discovery, and the published quotes bear that out.
The other thing that makes this procedure hard to price is that “brow lift” is five different operations with five different price tags, and most people shopping for one are also quietly comparing it against injectables. This guide prices both sides as of August 2026.
What Does a Brow Lift Cost Without Insurance?
Budget $4,000 to $8,300 all-in at a typical U.S. practice, with the technique and the anesthesia setting accounting for most of the spread.
| Type | Low | Average | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brow lift (forehead lift), surgeon fee only (ASPS national average) | n/a | $5,460 | n/a |
| Brow lift, all-in national average (CareCredit, July 2026) | $445 | $4,834 | $8,067 |
| Endoscopic brow lift, typical all-in | $4,000 | n/a | $7,000 |
| Coronal (classic) brow lift, typical all-in | $5,000 | n/a | $10,000+ |
| Temporal (lateral) brow lift, typical all-in | $3,500 | n/a | $6,000 |
| Direct brow lift, typical all-in | $3,000 | n/a | $8,000 |
| Trichophytic (hairline) brow lift, typical all-in | $4,500 | n/a | $8,500 |
| Brow lift under local / general anesthesia, published all-in (Seattle) | $3,995 | n/a | $4,995 |
| Brow lift, published all-in, second surgeon at same practice (Seattle) | n/a | $5,995 | n/a |
| Brow and forehead lift, published all-in (Richmond VA) | n/a | $6,500 | n/a |
| Brow lift, published all-in (Dallas) | $6,300 | n/a | $8,300 |
| Forehead reduction / hairline lowering, published all-in (Seattle) | n/a | $8,995 | n/a |
| Brow ptosis repair CPT 67900, Medicare allowed surgeon fee (2024) | n/a | $557.61 | n/a |
| Brow ptosis repair CPT 67900, Medicare ASC facility payment (CY2026) | n/a | $1,088.43 | n/a |
The two national anchors point in the same direction. The ASPS brow lift cost page, re-checked on September 2 2026, puts the national average surgeon fee at $5,460 from the society’s latest statistics, and states that the figure is only part of the total because it excludes anesthesia, operating room facilities, and other related expenses. It is a single average, not a range. CareCredit’s July 2026 guide gives an all-in national average of $4,834 across a wide $445 to $8,067 range.
CareCredit’s state table shows the geographic spread clearly: Mississippi averages $4,185 and Arkansas $4,190 at the low end, against $5,889 in California, $5,750 in Washington DC, and $5,509 in New York.
What Drives the Price
The technique
Published technique ranges run roughly $3,000 to $8,000 for a direct brow lift (incision immediately above the brow), $3,500 to $6,000 for a temporal or lateral lift that addresses only the outer brow, $4,000 to $7,000 for an endoscopic lift through several short incisions behind the hairline, $4,500 to $8,500 for a trichophytic or hairline lift, and $5,000 to $10,000 or more for a coronal lift.
The pattern is operating time. The endoscopic approach dominates because its shorter operating time reduces both anesthesia and facility fees, and recovery of seven to 14 days means less time off work. The coronal lift, a long incision from ear to ear, is done less often now precisely because it costs more in money and downtime.
Anesthesia and setting
Seattle Plastic Surgery’s published list makes this one easy to see: a brow lift is $3,995 under local anesthesia and $4,995 under general, same surgeon, same operation, a flat $1,000 difference.
The components behind that gap are published elsewhere. Niamtu Cosmetic Facial Surgery in Richmond bills anesthesia at $400 per hour and a surgery center fee of $500 to $2,500 as separate lines. Broken out nationally, anesthesia typically adds $500 to $2,000, facility and operating room fees $700 to $3,000, pre-operative testing $50 to $300, and post-operative supplies $150 to $500 on top of a $3,000 to $8,200 surgeon fee.
Surgeon and market, not complexity
Because the operation itself does not vary much, price mostly tracks the practice. Seattle Plastic Surgery publishes two different brow lift prices for two surgeons in the same building: $3,995 to $4,995 with one and $5,995 with the other. ASPS names the surgeon’s experience, the type of procedure used, and geographic office location as its fee drivers.
Whether you are bundling it
This is the biggest single discount available, and it is the reason so many brow lifts happen alongside eyelid surgery. Published estimates of the savings from combining a brow lift with upper blepharoplasty in one session run $1,000 to $3,000 and $1,500 to $3,500, because you pay the anesthesia and facility fee once and recover once.
Dr. Cocco’s Dallas fee schedule states plainly that reduced fees are available when surgery is performed in combination with other procedures, and Niamtu says some fees may be discounted when performed with a primary procedure. If you are already considering eyelid work, our blepharoplasty cost guide covers how those quotes are structured, and our face lift cost guide does the same for the larger procedure brow lifts are often added to.
When Insurance Pays
Most brow lifts are cosmetic and none of the coverage rules apply. But there is a functional version with a real pathway, and it is the same one that governs eyelid surgery.
Aetna’s Clinical Policy Bulletin 0084 considers brow ptosis repair medically necessary when three things are documented: photographs within the past 12 months showing the eyebrow below the supra-orbital rim, visual field testing with and without the brow taped showing a superior field of 30 degrees or less that improves by 12 degrees or more (or 30 percent or more) after taping, and evidence that the brow position interferes with vision-related activities such as reading or seeing through the eyelashes.
Medicare covers the same procedure under CPT 67900. In 2024, Medicare data shows 23,342 facility-setting services and 1,195 office services under that code. Providers submitted an average charge of $3,722 and Medicare allowed an average of $557.61 in a facility, paying $441.81. Medicare’s CY2026 ambulatory surgery center payment for the same code is $1,088.43. If your case qualifies, your share is coinsurance on roughly $1,646, not a $6,000 cash quote.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
For a cosmetic brow lift, there is no network rate and no insurer to argue with. Everything is quoted up front by a practice that wants your deposit, which makes it negotiable in a way a hospital bill almost never is. It also means the price is not eligible for HSA or FSA dollars, and financing it on a medical credit card creates ordinary consumer debt.
If your brows have descended far enough to affect your vision, the calculus flips entirely and it is worth getting a visual field test before writing any checks.
How to Pay Less
Ask for one all-in written number, then compare three of them. Surgeon fee, anesthesia, facility, pre-op testing, prescriptions, and follow-up visits should all be named. A $5,460 surgeon fee and a $4,995 all-in price are not comparable numbers. Run each total through our fair price checker.
Ask what the local anesthesia version costs. Seattle’s published $1,000 gap between anesthesia tiers is the easiest saving available on this procedure, and it will not be volunteered.
Ask which technique the price assumes. A quote for an endoscopic lift and a quote for a coronal lift can differ by thousands for reasons that have nothing to do with the practice’s pricing.
Bundle it with eyelid surgery if both are on your list. The published savings of $1,000 to $3,500 come from paying anesthesia and facility once. Combining also gets you one recovery instead of two.
Price the non-surgical options over five years, not one visit. More on this below.
Negotiate, and decline the deferred-interest card. Practices that push medical credit cards have margin to give up when you offer cash. Our guide to negotiating medical bills has the language and our negotiation script has the call structure. If a functional claim gets denied, our guide to reading an itemized hospital bill covers how to check what was billed and under which code.
Non-Surgical Alternatives and What They Actually Cost
Three treatments get compared to a brow lift. None of them does the same thing, and all of them repeat.
Botox brow lift (chemical brow lift). Small doses relax the muscles that pull the brow down so the forehead muscle lifts it unopposed. Published prices run $300 to $700 per session and results last three to four months, so three or four sessions a year is $900 to $2,400. ASPS puts the average botulinum toxin treatment at $435, and published per-unit prices as of 2026 run $10.50 in Scottsdale, $14 in Portland and Richmond, and $15 in Wilmington. Over five years the running total reaches $4,500 to $12,000, which meets or exceeds a one-time endoscopic lift. Our Botox cost guide has the per-visit math.
Thread brow lift. Absorbable PDO sutures mechanically reposition the brow tail. Cosmetiq Medicine in Portland publishes $1,600 for an eight-thread brow lift and Desert Bloom in Scottsdale publishes $1,800, against a broader published range of $800 to $2,500. Threads dissolve in four to six months and the collagen effect fades over 12 to 18 months, so budget a repeat inside two years.
Ultherapy. Microfocused ultrasound, and the only device FDA-cleared specifically to lift the eyebrow. Wilmington Dermatology Center’s 2026 list prices an upper face Ulthera bundle at $1,775 and a full face at $2,300, and a Los Angeles practice publishes full face from $2,500. The manufacturer says a single treatment’s results can last up to a year or more. Our Ultherapy cost guide covers the line-count pricing model in detail.
The Bottom Line
Budget $4,000 to $8,300 all-in for a surgical brow lift as of August 2026, with the endoscopic approach usually the cheapest surgical option and the coronal lift the most expensive. Under $4,000 you are likely looking at a surgeon fee with anesthesia and facility still to come.
If you are also considering eyelid surgery, get one combined quote rather than two separate ones. And if you are weighing Botox against surgery, do the five-year math before deciding which one is the expensive option.