Sometimes you see someone with an obvious brow ridge and wondered why they have one. Not everyone has a prominent brow ridge, but for most men, this feature is common. A prominent brow ridge creates a masculine look.
The brow ridge is known as the supraorbital ridge because you can find it just above your eyes or “orbits.” The orbit is the bone located above the eye sockets. Having a prominent brow ridge simply means that your brow ridge is more visible compared to others.
A prominent brow ridge is achievable through the practice of proper tongue posture or mewing. On the other hand, surgical procedures can reduce the protrusion of the brow bone.
Consider one of our custom facial reports if you’re interested in an in-depth analysis of your eye area and supraorbital regions.
Brow Ridge Definition
The brow ridge is the arch over the eyes and serves as a roof for the eye sockets. The brow bone serves a vital role as protection for the eyes. Technically speaking, the brow ridge is a crest of bone on the skull’s frontal bone. The brow ridge serves to reinforce the weaker bones in the skull. The brow ridge is usually less prominent in women and more in men, but this may vary depending on ethnicity.
In modern-day humans, the brow ridge has undergone significant changes. It has become smaller and much less prominent. But it still serves its purpose as the protector of the eye sockets.
Do You Want a More Prominent Brow Ridge?
A more prominent brow ridge has a positive aesthetic impact on your face. There are many things you can do to enhance and improve the shape or bone structure of your nose, cheeks, chin, jawline, lips, and eyes, to make them look beautiful and harmonious.
Brow Bone Augmentation
One of the best options to enhance your brow ridge to make it more visible is through isolated brow augmentation. This procedure is usually done in men with flat brow ridges who want to enhance the brow to achieve a more masculine appearance. In some cases, surgeons do brow bone augmentation and forehead augmentation together to yield the desired results.
Mewing
Mewing involves proper tongue placement as a technique for facial restructuring. If mewing for an extended time, you will achieve significant changes on your face. The correct tongue posture will cause basic facial bone remodeling, and you will ultimately end up with improved facial features like a chiseled jawline, prominent cheekbones, visible cheek hollows, and deep-set eyes with a prominent brow ridge. Through mewing, you will greatly improve the overall facial aesthetics of your face. For more info, check out our Ultimate Mewing Guide.
Male vs. Female Forehead
A marked difference exists between the male and female brow bones:
|
Features |
Male |
Female |
| Brow Bossing | Men have a brow ridge or brow bossing. This is a ridge on the upper edge of their eye sockets. | Women have foreheads that have little bossing or none at all. |
| Flat Spot | Men have a visible flat spot between the two ridges of the eye sockets. | Because women don’t have ridges, they do not have a flat spot. |
| Forehead’s Slope | Because of the presence of the brow ridge, men have a steeper forehead. There is also an obvious angle that is sharper in the lateral view, between the forehead and the nose. | Women, lacking brow ridges, have a vertical appearance of the forehead in lateral view. There is also a more open angle between the forehead and nose. |
Men will usually want a prominent brow ridge. Women will want the opposite. However, some women with this feature may opt not to make any changes at all. In some instances, a prominent brow ridge might harmonize with their other more feminine features.
Is it a face Abnormality?
A face with a highly visible brow bone and a protruding forehead has frontal bossing. Having a brow bone that is too large is a sign of a defect in the bones, hormones, or overall development of the body. Infants or very young children often have frontal bossing due to underlying conditions.
Having a prominent brow ridge and a protruded forehead is often linked to conditions affecting growth hormones. In other cases, it’s connected to severe anemia, where the bone marrow does not produce enough red blood cells.
There are many underlying causes linked to having a protruded forehead along with a thick brow ridge, such as the disorders listed below:
|
Disorder |
Description or Characteristics |
Treatment |
| Acromegaly | This medical condition is a disorder caused by the overproduction of growth hormone (HGH) by the pituitary gland. People who have this condition will show more bone growth in their skull, hands, feet, and jaws. | Surgery is the best solution. A transsphenoidal surgery will remove the tumor in the pituitary gland so that the production of growth hormones will go back to its normal rate. Another option is radiation, which will treat the remaining tumor cells if any. Some medications can lower hormone levels or reduce the secretion of growth hormones. |
| Congenital Syphilis | This is a crippling infection of infants and is life-threatening in most cases. The pregnant mother passes the infection to the unborn child. | This disease is preventable since you can treat it with Penicillin and other antibiotics. |
| Cleidocranial Dysostosis
(CCD) |
This anomaly involves the unusual development of the skull and collar bones. This can be hereditary, | While there is no specific treatment for this sickness, you will be able to manage the common side effects of the disease, such as dental defects, weak bones, and ear infections. To correct any skeletal abnormality, you can opt for surgery. |
| Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome | This condition refers to the multiple aberrations caused by a rare genetic disease that affects the eyes, the nervous system, bones, skin, and the endocrine system. | The only treatment option is surgery because of the presence of benign or malignant tumors. |
| Crouzon Syndrome | This genetic disorder manifests in the skull’s abnormal growth and affects the shape of the head and face. Some of the abnormalities include bulging eyes, shallow eye sockets, a beaked nose, and an underdeveloped upper jaw. | Surgery is the best treatment option for this disorder. Surgery helps prevent other problems, improves symptoms, and assists mental and physical development. The operation will also ensure that the brain has more than enough space to grow in. |
| Hurler Syndrome | This rare condition causes a lack of enzymes needed to break down long chains of sugar molecules. | While there is no cure for Hurler Syndrome, enzyme replacement therapy can improve mobility and pulmonary function. |
| Pfeiffer Syndrome |
This disorder shows the early fusion of skull bones that prevents healthy growth. This syndrome often affects the shape of the head and face. |
Although there is no cure, surgery can treat the symptoms and effects of this disease. Depending on the severity, surgeons may do multiple surgeries so that patients can live to adulthood. |
| Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome
(RTS) |
This disorder is genetic and involves short stature, broad thumbs and toes, and distinctive facial features. | RTS has no cure. However, the problems associated with this syndrome will require surgery. The surgery will repair the bones in the thumbs and toes, which can relieve discomfort or improve grasp. |
| Russell-Silver Syndrome
(RSS) |
This disorder involves poor growth where one side of the body is asymmetric. This abnormality is present at birth. | Treatment consists of managing the symptoms of RSS. Such treatment aims to help growth and development, correct and accommodate limb asymmetry, and encourage mental and social development. |
Prominent Brow Ridges in Early Homo-Sapiens
A prominent brow ridge is not only seen in humans. Other primates possess it, too. Eons ago, during the time of the first homo-sapiens, brow ridges were more prominent. Their skulls were smaller and flatter in shape. But the bones on their brows were more prominent and bulkier. Nowadays, our skulls are much more different compared to those of our ancestors. As humans developed longer and smoother foreheads, the brow ridges became more subtle.
Penny Spikins, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of York, has said that “The brow ridge is one of the most distinctive features that mark the difference between archaic and modern humans.”
Spikins and her colleagues offered a theory that the foreheads helped facilitate empathy. Our foreheads can express emotion through our eyebrows. As homo-sapiens became a more social species, our foreheads became less prominent. Having less forehead mass helped humans use their facial muscles to express themselves.
Prominent Brow Ridge: Signs of Strength and Dominance
The early ancestors of humanity had a prominent brow ridge to show off strength and dominance, which helped them attract mates. As the years went by, the need to assert dominance was not as valuable as communication. After millions of years, through evolution, the thick brow ridges of our ancestors disappeared and were replaced by longer foreheads. All this assisted humanity’s need to communicate.
The Attractiveness of Prominent Brow Ridges
Although the modern-day brow ridge is not as evident as what our ancestors had before, there is one thing that we do share in common with them. Homo-sapiens use their brow ridges to attract females. Much like then, one of the stereotypical features of an ideal masculine face nowadays is a prominent brow ridge. Other masculine features include a square and chiseled jawline, a high forehead, high cheekbones, and thin lips.
Prominent brow ridges have made many men seem so attractive to women. Some of the world’s most attractive actors are prime examples of this i.e., Hollywood celebrities such as:
- Adam Levine
- Chris Hemsworth
- Jason Momoa
- Johnny Depp
- Alex Pettyfer
Brow ridges are more prominent in men, but some women also have very subtle brow ridges. Perfect examples are:
- Cara Delevingne
- Chrissy Teigen
- Scarlett Johansson
- Brooke Shields
Surgery for Women with Prominent Brow Ridge
If most men go for brow bone augmentation to achieve that more masculine look, the corrective option for women is the reverse.
Prominent brow ridges make women look masculine. To soften their facial features, women with prominent brow ridges may consider brow ridge reduction. This surgical procedure will grind off the protruding bones to achieve a softer brow shape. The forehead will lose its rough appearance and instead look round and full.
Brow ridge reduction is a surgery that involves shaving and surgically altering the bone. The ridge’s outer parts, where the eyebrows sit, are solid bone that can be filed down. The frontal sinus is where the section of bossing between the eyebrows sits. The frontal sinus is hollow, and the bossing is more challenging to remove there. The surgeon will remove, reshape, and reattach the bone plate in front of the frontal sinus. He will also use titanium-made screws to hold the bone in place as it heals.
