Eyebrow Restoration Surgery

Eyebrows play an important role in a person's appearance. In order to get the perfect arch, some women over-tweeze or over-pluck their eyebrows. Some women lose their eyebrows when they age, leaving them with a rather sparse look. While some women have enough eyebrows left to fill in with eyebrow pencil or powder, other women may not and might consider tattooing. Another option exists for women (and some men) with sparse eyebrows--eyebrow restoration surgery.

History

• Tattooing is an older option, which many transplant surgeons say is inferior to eyebrow transplant surgery. Tattoos, up close, are not natural looking and after a while can turn blue. Eyebrow restoration surgery is proving to be a better option. In 2006, only about 3 percent of all hair transplants were eyebrow transplants, according to the Columbia News Service. But, by 2008, this procedure grew by 35 percent.

Significance

• Many people underestimate the importance of eyebrows, says eyebrow restoration surgeon Dr. Grant Koher. Not only do people look odd without eyebrows, you lose some of your ability to communicate non-verbally when you don't have them. Most people don't realize just how important eyebrows are to the face until they are missing, explains Koher.

Reasons for Losing Eyebrows

• People can lose their eyebrows by a physical trauma, such as an auto accident or a burn. Certain diseases or medical treatments can cause people to lose their eyebrows. Some people have a congenital inability to grow eyebrows, while others pluck them to the point of permanent loss.

Evaluation

• Before having eyebrow restoration surgery, your doctor will evaluate you to see if you are a good candidate. For example, if your eyebrow loss is because of trichotillomania--an obsessive plucking disorder--you must be treated or cured of this to ensure that you will not pluck out the new hair. If a disease is the reason for your hair loss, you must have that disease under control for the eyebrow restoration to be successful. And, if a burn is the reason, you may first need reconstructive surgery before having eyebrow restoration surgery, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery.

How It's Done

• The usual procedure for eyebrow restoration is a hair transplant, which your doctor will likely do in an outpatient setting, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. The surgeon will remove a strip of hair-bearing skin from your scalp and graft it onto the eyebrow site. Then, the surgeon micro grafts one to two hairs at a time on the eyebrow area. These donor hairs should be finer rather than coarser hair. You and your doctor will determine the shape your eyebrow will be. You may need to go in for several transplant sessions, depending on how much you wish to transplant. After the procedure, you may experience some minor pain and swelling.