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 10 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 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 hair 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 shaving 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.
The desired shape of the eyebrows is marked out, and using a small needle that measures approximately .5mm, tiny incisions are created in the eyebrow as close to parallel to the skin as possible, with special care taken to angle each and every hair the say direction any existing hairs are angled.
Since the entire procedure is performed under local anesthetic the patient may look at the eyebrows as they evolve and make changes to the shape during the procedure. 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 approximately 5 days after the procedure. Within a month most of the transplanted eyebrow hairs shed, and then they begin to regrow after 12 weeks. At 6 months about 60% of the new hairs are growing and full results are seen at 9-12 months with about 80-90% of the transplanted hairs eventually growing over time.
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 every 1-2 weeks. The eyebrows may be colored as they can be treated just like natural eyebrows.
On average I transplant 200-400 hairs per eyebrow in a single session. About 80-90% of my patients are happy with a single procedure. About 10-20% come back for a touch up procedure because they are very happy with the initial procedure and want to make up for the 10% of hairs that may not have grown in and perhaps refine the shape a little more.