In short. The fractional laser, microneedling and peel categories for a crease that stays at rest: what each can soften on the forehead, and why the result is partial.

Key points

  • It softens a groove by rebuilding the tissue around and beneath it, and it improves how evenly the forehead reflects light.
  • It cannot release the tethering that holds the crease in place, and it does not act on the muscle that folds the skin.

Once a line is visible with the face at rest, part of it is in the skin. The rungs that act there are described by category rather than by product: the fractional laser groups, microneedling, and chemical peels of medium depth.

Why the forehead responds as it does

The skin here is bound to the muscle beneath it with almost no fat between them, so a crease is a groove tethered to a moving structure rather than a fold in loose tissue. The area is flat enough to treat evenly, and the rebuilt surface sits on top of a floor that is still there.

The categories

Non-ablative fractional laser treatment creates columns of controlled injury and leaves the surface largely intact; it is the gentlest of the group and usually needs several sessions. Ablative fractional laser treatment removes the surface layer too, which is a stronger effect with a longer recovery. Microneedling makes the injury mechanically, with or without radiofrequency energy. A medium-depth peel removes a controlled layer of the surface. Each works the same way: controlled injury, then the skin’s own repair.

A course, judged months later

These are given as a series, and an honest plan is a range: commonly a few sessions some weeks apart, adjusted once the skin’s response to the first is known. Recovery differs by category, from a few days of redness to a week or more of visible healing. The result is judged months after the last session.

What resurfacing can and cannot soften

It softens a groove by rebuilding the tissue around and beneath it, and it improves how evenly the forehead reflects light. It cannot release the tethering that holds the crease in place, and it does not act on the muscle that folds the skin.

Where it sits in the plan

Resurfacing works best once the fold has stopped being recreated hundreds of times a day, which is why the muscle rung usually comes first. Where a line has both components, a plan naming only one leaves the other where it was.

Skin type, and the reasons to wait

Skin that tans easily and rarely burns carries a higher risk of pigment change after any controlled injury. Active infection in the area, a tendency to form raised scars, and recent treatment with a medicine that affects healing are reasons to wait or to choose differently.

Three cautions

  • Pigment change is a real risk in skin that tans easily, and it is discussed before the first session.
  • Redness or sensitivity that continues for weeks is a reason to be reviewed rather than to add another session.
  • Resurfacing does not lift the brow and does not remove a deeply set crease, whatever the plan implies.

How much of a line has moved into the skin is established in telling an etched line from a moving one. The rung that stops the folding is described in the brow balance it trades against, and what no rung removes in the honest ceiling.

Related reading

Frequently asked questions

How many resurfacing sessions does a forehead usually take?

It is a course rather than a single appointment, and the honest version of a plan is a range: commonly a few sessions at intervals of some weeks, with the plan adjusted once the skin’s response to the first one is known. The gentler categories in the group generally need more sessions than the stronger ones. Any number quoted to you is an estimate for planning, and your own plan may differ.

Is the forehead an easier area to resurface than the rest of the face?

It has advantages and one disadvantage. It is broad and relatively flat, which makes it possible to treat evenly, and the skin there takes a controlled injury predictably. The disadvantage is that the skin is firmly bound to a muscle that moves all day, so the groove is tethered to a moving structure and the rebuilt surface sits on top of a floor that is still there.

Can resurfacing be done in the same weeks as a relaxing injection?

The order is discussed rather than assumed, and the usual reasoning is that the muscle rung comes first so that the fold stops being recreated while the skin is trying to remodel. The two act on different components of the same line and neither substitutes for the other. Arranging them in the same week without a plan for the order is the arrangement most likely to waste both.

Risks & Limitations

  • Relaxing the frontalis also lowers the brow, because the same contraction holds it up. How far it drops is judged before treatment, not discovered afterwards.
  • A line that is still visible with the face at rest has a component in the skin, and no treatment directed at the muscle removes it.
  • The relaxing effect wears off and the treatment is repeated, so the appointments do not end on their own.
  • Resurfacing brings real downtime and a risk of pigment change that is higher in skin which tans easily.
  • Volume placed into a crease rather than into a hollow can show as a ridge under light, and it does not remove the line.

When to Seek Care

  • A brow that has dropped on one side only, or that can no longer be lifted on one side.
  • A forehead that has stopped moving, or sudden weakness, difficulty speaking or swallowing, or double vision, which need emergency care rather than a routine appointment.
  • A new lump or swelling over the brow or the upper forehead, or a spot that bleeds, crusts or fails to heal.
  • Severe pain, or skin that turns white, dusky or mottled, after an injection in this area. Any change in vision afterwards is an emergency.
  • A drooping upper lid, or an eye that becomes persistently dry or irritated, after treatment to the forehead.

References & Further Reading

  • American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) — procedure and safety guidance
  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, UK) — relevant guidance
  • Cochrane Library — systematic reviews
  • Chinese Medical Association Plastic Surgery Branch — clinical guidance

Medically reviewed by Ke He, MD (何锞), Deputy Director & Head of Skin & Laser Aesthetics. Last reviewed: 19 September 2026.

This page is patient education, not medical advice, and it does not cite individual studies. Discuss your own case with a qualified clinician. To arrange an assessment at Chongqing West District Hospital, see Contact & Consultation.