Is Female Eyebrow Hair Transplant Surgery Worth It?

This question was posed by a hair loss sufferer seeking hair loss help on our hair restoration forum and answered by Dr. William Lindsey of Reston, VA who is one of our recommended hair restoration physicians. His professional answer is below.

This question is for hair transplant doctors and their representatives. I would be most grateful for expert medical opinions. I’ve been researching female eyebrow transplants for quite a while and would like to proceed but feel I have received mixed messages.

Please tell me whether it is possible to achieve a natural, pretty result augmenting existing eyebrows.

What is the most acute angle possible without compromising hair growth?

How likely is the possibility of losing native hairs permanently?

How satisfied have women with existing eyebrows been with the outcome of eyebrow transplant surgery? (I know people without any eyebrows are more likely to be happy.)

I know the frequency of this hair restoration procedure is increasing but are people thrilled with the natural results the way they are with scalp hair replacement.

I very much appreciate any insight you can provide based upon your experience.

I am a facial plastic surgeon, fellowship trained, previously on faculty at 2 teaching universities, and I have done many eyelid, eyebrow, forehead, and face procedures along with hair which has become my focus. And do you know how many eyebrow transplant cases that I have seen? One. And that was a result of trauma. Now if you have an area disfigured by trauma, then a face doctor like me would be important to get the area prepared for the best outcome from a transplant, and since I can do follicular unit extraction (FUE), I probably can do the entire procedure well.

But, for your average female that over-plucked for decades, you need an excellent FUE doctor, who will be honest enough to explain to her that scalp hair and eyebrow hair are very different. What we can offer is an acceptable option, but it will require upkeep, trimming and will never look as good as the hairs that God designed for eyebrows.

I have seen some fairly aggressive ads recently and had the opportunity to meet a patient (also a relative) of a doctor that promotes eyebrow transplants as a fantastic option. While everyone views things differently, I don’t think that one of his “best cases” lived up to the ads or my expectation after hearing him tell me about the procedure.

So for a patient like Dr. Feller presented on this hair loss forum thread, this is an excellent option; but for the average female, I still think that there is work to be done in improving the state of the art.

William Lindsey, M.D.

Technorati Tags: hair loss, hair loss help, hair transplant, eyebrow transplant, hair growth, native hair, hair restoration, hair replacement, follicular unit extraction, FUE, eyebrow transplants, hair loss

Bill

Bill successfully restored his hair with three hair transplantation procedures. He is now the Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network.com and the Hair Loss Learning Center.org

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View Comments

Dr Chan says:

August 15, 2010 at 8:42 am

Just want to make a note regarding the hair from scalp looking different to the eyebrow hair. I agree if the hairs were taken from a strip. With FUE, the hairs should be selectively extracted so that it matches those in the eyebrow. If extra care is taken, we could selectively extract those finer singles which are located towards the nape of the neck. But of course, this is not always the case, especially with Asians. It is the surgeon's duty to let the patient know what can and cannot be achieved, so the patient could make a choice. If patients are educated well enough with what to expect before the surgery, we do have many happy patients at the end which can be very rewarding.