We perform eyebrow transplantation for both men and women. Most commonly, in the case of the men, there is a lack of eyebrow hairs in the outer half simply due to heredity. For women, the problem with the missing hairs is usually caused by over-zealous “plucking” or electrolysis treatments.
Even if you have eyebrow tattoos, the eyebrow transplant can be done over the tatoo. To give you the most natural look, we are very precise in the direction in which we place the eyebrow hairs.
Around half of our eyebrow transplant patients come only once for transplanting and half come a second time for greater density. Swelling and bruising after the eyebrow transplant procedure usually occurs around the eyes for 3-5 days.
The donor hair for the eyebrow transplant is obtained from the scalp. Obviously, this hair will continue to grow, as it does on the scalp, and will have to be trimmed once a week by the eyebrow transplant patient for the rest of his or her life.
The donor hairs are trimmed a little long, at around 1/4 inch in length so that the curl is seen, and, after they are placed, you can immediately see the effect that the eyebrow transplants will have on your appearance. Just as in scalp hair transplantation, most of those hairs will then fall out for a period of “telogen” (hibernation) and will then begin growing around 3-4 months later.
Over that first year the hairs also get larger in caliber also. If someone comes twice, the second session is generally scheduled around 8-12 months after the first one.
The procedure typically takes 6-8 hours to perform. On average we place 250-300 hairs per eyebrow, but more or less is possible depending on the shape and size that the patient desires.
For 7 days after the eyebrow transplant surgery there will be tiny scabs which appear like dots of sand on the skin, and then these fall off, leaving the eyebrow looking pretty much like it did before the surgery. There is also a slight pinkness in the transplanted skin that persists for 4-12 weeks after the procedure depending on how quickly the patient heals. Eyebrow pencil may be used 3 weeks after the procedure.
Eyebrow Transplants – Everything You Need To Know
Eyebrow transplants are one of the most exciting and innovative new aspects of hair restoration in the past 20 years. As hair restoration has evolved from the large unnatural plugs of the 70’s and 80’s to the follicular unit micrografts of today, so too has the evolution of eyebrow transplants come to a place where completely natural results may be obtained in the hands of an experienced and skilled eyebrow restoration surgeon.
Eyebrow transplantation involves taking donor hair from the back or sides of the scalp and transferring them to the eyebrows. The donor hair is usually obtained from the middle of the back of the scalp where the hair is a bit finer and the scarring is not evident. There are two methods of harvesting the donor hair. One is called follicular unit extraction otherwise known as FUE and it involves cutting to eyebrow hair length a small strip of hair and removing each hair follicle individually with a special drill that has a diameter under 1mm. The individual follicles are then trimmed down to single hair follicles and prepared for placement in the eyebrow. The other method for harvesting the donor eyebrow hair is called Follicular Unit Transfer otherwise know as FUT or the Strip Harvest Method.
In this procedure a small donor strip is removed from the back of the scalp, usually in the middle of the back of the scalp, and the area is sutured closed leaving a fine line scar that is never to be seen unless the person were to shave their scalp. This donor strip is then dissected into single hair follicles for transfer into the eyebrows.
Dr. Dauer prefers to utilize the FUE technique as it’s much less painful for the patient, involves no sutures, and thus there is less risk for infection and/ or poor wound healing. Dr. Dauer extracts the donor hair personally which allows him to choose the donor hairs that he believes are best suited for the eyebrow. In addition, if the patient does not have a large number of grey hairs, Dr. Dauer can often eliminate the grey hair and harvest darker hairs. If the eyebrow hairs turn grey in the future they can be tinted with hair color.
The desired shape of the eyebrows is marked out. Then every hair follicle is meticulously placed by Dr. Dauer himself using a customized tool which allows him to create the incision and place the hair follicle all in one motion. This technique is much less traumatic and results in quicker healing than the technique of creating pre made incisions and then placing with forceps. Special care is taken to angle each and every hair in the desired direction and as flat to the skin as possible.
Dr. Dauer is one of the only physicians in the world placing the hairs himself as most physicians delegate all the placement of the eyebrow hairs to technicians.
Since the entire procedure is performed under local anesthetic we have the patient look at the eyebrows when we are done placing the initial batch of hairs and then we can “fine tune” based on what both Dr. Dauer and the patient are seeing.
Overnight small crusts form around each of the eyebrow hairs. Most of the crusts come off within a week. There is some bruising and swelling around the eyes for up to 7 days after the procedure. Within a month most of the transplanted eyebrow hairs shed, and then they begin to regrow after 12-16 weeks. At 6 months approximately 60% of the new hairs are growing and full results are seen at 9-10 months with about 70-90% of the transplanted hairs on average growing over time. Pre existing scarring can affect regrowth rates but it’s impossible to know exactly to what extent until approximately 9-10 months post procedure.
Since the donor hair comes from the scalp, it will require periodic trimming as it will grow longer than typical eyebrow hair. On average, patients report trimming the eyebrows approximately once a week. Patients also typically use wax or gel to flatten the hairs as not all the hairs will lie completely flat to the skin, despite the special care taken to facilitate this.
On average Dr. Dauer will transplant 200-300 hairs per eyebrow in a single session. Approximately 50% come back for a touch up procedure because they are very happy with the initial procedure and want to make up for the hairs that may not have grown in and perhaps refine the shape a little more.
Dr. Dauer was one of the first physicians in the world performing eyebrow transplants. Over the past 20 years he has performed over 2000 cases. He has hundreds of eyebrow transplant results to show on his website. He is one of the only physicians in the world to harvest the donor hair and place the grafts personally. Most physicians delegate both of these tasks to technicians. He has lectured on eyebrow transplants to hair transplant physicians all over the world and authored the chapter on eyebrow transplants in the definitive textbook of hair transplantation “Hair Transplant 360”.