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Can You Get an Eyebrow Transplant?

Eyebrow transplants
It’s not until eyebrows are gone that you realize their importance to a person’s appearance. In fact, sparse or missing eyebrows can damage a person’s confidence and self-esteem. Which begs the question, can you get an eyebrow transplant? Yes, but it comes with its own special considerations.

 
 

Why Have My Eyebrows Disappeared?

Sometimes eyebrow hair disappears gradually and sometimes it just doesn’t grow back after shaving, even though for most people it will. Some eyebrow thinning is due to age or is a side effect of overly aggressively tweezing when younger.

Eyebrows can thin or disappear completely due to a variety of reasons:

  • an overactive immune system
  • skin changes
  • an infection
  • hormonal changes
  • thyroid problems
  • physical trauma
  • nutritional deficiencies
  • cancer treatment
  • or emotional distress

Some of these can be temporary. For example, while it’s common knowledge that chemotherapy causes hair loss, most people don’t realize it also affects eyebrow hair. Usually, eyebrow hair will return when cancer treatment is over. However, in some cases, regardless of the reason for the eyebrow hair loss, it doesn’t come back. Doctors aren’t sure why it occurs but this happened to legendary actress Lana Turner early in her career. She was ordered to shave her eyebrows for a role in the movie The Adventures of Marco Polo, and they never grew back.

More recently actress Meagan Good admitted to having an eyebrow transplant. Good had over-tweezed her eyebrows in the Nineties, then turned to tattooing and microblading to improve the appearance of her eyebrows. Still dissatisfied, she had a transplant to resolve the issue.

What Is an Eyebrow Transplant?

An eyebrow transplant is a specialized form of a hair transplant. Both follicle unit excision (FUE) and follicle unit transplantation (FUT) can be used for eyebrow transplants.

However, in the case of FUT a strip of hair is removed from the back of the head. Then, while the patient is resting, hairs are removed from the scalp in strips for implantation in the eyebrow area. With FUE, individual follicles are removed which means virtually no scarring from the donor site and hair can be taken from areas like behind the ears, which can provide a better appearance than normal scalp follicles. With normal follicles from the scalp, hair grows more quickly. So after a successful transplant, people don’t tweeze their eyebrows to shape them, but trimming them is essential.

It’s also essential that each follicle is transplanted carefully. The surgeon needs to make sure the hair grows in the best direction they can manage. Although, due to the nature of scalp follicles, the patient may need to use a little eyebrow gel or pomade until the hairs are trained properly to stay flat.

Selecting the right eyebrow shape is important too. Using an eyebrow template to instruct the surgeon can also be useful. Tweezing after a transplant is counterproductive so planning the right brow shape is essential.

Talk to RHRLI About Eyebrow Transplants

If your eyebrows are too sparse or gone altogether, talk to RHRLI about your restoration options. Dr. Baiju Gohil is a board-certified surgeon with many years of experience, including eyebrow transplants. Dr. Gohil will evaluate your hair loss and determine whether you’re a good candidate for ARTAS® hair restoration. Contact RHRLI today.

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