They’re on the rise and incredibly impactful – for the right candidate. Read on for Dr. Linkov’s thoughts on this under the radar procedure!

Eyes may be the windows to our souls but they’re arguably nothing without the frames. A change in the shape, thickness, and density of your brows can dramatically alter your appearance and create sought after balance. Read on for my thoughts on what makes a great eyebrow transplant and who is a good candidate. Image by Master1305 for Freepik. 

 

Windows and Frames

 

If eyes are the windows to our soul, then eyebrows are the all-important frames. I think of eyebrows as a ‘quite luxury’ feature of the face. Not unlike with the lips, the right, shape, colour, proportions, and placement can dramatically change how we see and feel about ourselves. When our eyebrows are groomed well, they give balance and build confidence. 

 

But when we’re not happy with them? Between hours spent grooming, hundreds to thousands of dollars spent microblading… Brows can take their toll on our time, wallets, and confidence. 

 

In fact, the cosmetic industry knows well our obsession with great brows. Cosmetic aisles everywhere are inundated with products that claim to make our brows look better, fluffier, healthier.

 

For those who are exhausted with the daily care and grooming their brows require, 

a permanent solution, a brow hair transplant, might just be the ticket. And, contrary to popular belief, it’s not just women who seek out this procedure – men can reap the brow-boosting benefits of a transplant as well. 

 

Contrary to popular belief, women aren’t the only patients who seek out an eyebrow hair transplant. Men seek out eyebrow hair transplants to fill in missing patches caused by scars and asymmetry, or simply to rejuvenate their appearance. Image by Master1305 for Freepik. 

 

What Can an Eyebrow Transplant Really Accomplish?

 

Let’s be clear here, the goal of an eyebrow transplant is never perfection. We can’t make eyebrows perfectly symmetrical – it can’t be done and if it could, it wouldn’t look good because faces aren’t symmetrical. 

 

What we can do is get brows to ‘match’ each other a little better and give them a more artistically balanced shape. The other thing a brow transplant does spectacularly well is improve density and better use the hairs that are already there. 

 

And, not unlike choosing a microblading tattoo artist, you really want someone who knows what they’re doing. Bargain shopping here is risky business. 

 

What’s Involved?

 

An eyebrow transplant is done under local anesthetic – lidocaine and epinephrine – and precise, surgical, graft sites are painstakingly made where the transplanted hairs will be moved to. It’s a time-consuming process despite the small area, as each site really needs to be meticulously placed. Every single hair in this instance counts. 

 

The donor grafts are typically excised by FUT (a roughly 5 – 7 cm surgically removed strip of donor tissue from which the hair grafts are dissected under a microscope) then transplanted to the graft recipient sites. It doesn’t need to be done this way. Theoretically you could perform an eyebrow hair transplant using FUE, but an advantage of FUT is that the hairs can be left a bit longer. That’s advantageous in an eyebrow transplant so you get a really nice preview of what the brows will look like after they grow back in and can help with matching the curl pattern. For these reasons, FUT is often the best choice, though long-hair FUE punches are now becoming available. 

 

A great deal of planning and artistic design goes into deciding the shape of the brow itself. Eyebrows are a major feature of the face – not unlike the lips, nose and eyes – and each hair needs to be placed exactly. It’s not uncommon for the surgeon performing the transplant to measure in painstaking detail where each brow should sit, to make certain the design is as perfect as possible and in line with what the patient wants. Beyond shape and design, there’s density, curl placement, and harmony with the rest of the face. Like I often say with plastic surgery, you really want a specialist and expert who performs these regularly (like I do). 

 

Keep in mind that the hair transplanted to the eyebrow can grow like regular hair, meaning you’ll need to commit to trimming regularly. Image by Freepik. 

 

After surgery, expect swelling, but interestingly people find that the pain is quite manageable. Some patients find they’re not bothered at all post-transplant. Some say it’s no worse than microblading on the discomfort scale. Itching is a possibility, and patients need to follow their surgeon’s advice and aftercare plan to protect the newly transplanted hair while they stabilize. 

 

Who is the Ideal Candidate?

An ideal candidate for an eyebrow hair transplant is someone who has sparse eyebrows (either genetically or due to thinning that comes with age), who struggles with the appearance of their brows on a day-to-day basis and feels that a thicker, well-defined brow would improve their confidence. Often (but not always) good candidates are people who find themselves filling in their brows every morning before they leave their home or are already investing a great deal of time and money making their brows appear thicker (extensions, tattooing, Latisse, or dyes). Those are all great cosmetic options to improve the brow, however patients who are happiest with their eyebrow transplants are those who have reached ‘eyebrow fatigue’. They want to forget about their brows and feel confident without applying make-up every morning or routinely scheduling expensive touch-ups.

 

 

Life Balance

 

Keep in mind that an eyebrow transplant is not appropriate for someone who is actively experiencing hair loss. Any active hair loss needs to be under control and stabilized before considering any hair transplant. Frontal fibrosing alopecia is of particular concern when considering an eyebrow hair transplant, as it’s an autoimmune form of hair loss that affects mainly women over 50 and attacks hair at the scalp, the tails of the eyebrows, and sometimes the eyelashes. Because this is an autoimmune condition, transplanted hair would also be affected. 

 

However, if the issue is thin brows or age-related thinning? This is a procedure you can often go ahead with. 

What else you need to know

 

Like all hair transplants, the transplanted eyebrow hair will fall out and regrow. Consider the longer hairs right after surgery a preview. 

 

Interestingly, the hair that is transplanted will continue to grow long like it did on your head. You will need to regularly trim the hairs. 

 

It’s a very safe procedure provided you find a qualified hair transplant surgeon with specific experience performing eyebrow hair transplants. Many people get eyebrow hair transplants and are very happy with the results. 

 

However, it is a surgery – you need to follow your surgeons’ recommendations to give you the best results! 

 

Cost is approximately $3000-15000 USD. The upfront cost of this procedure may seem high, but a well performed eyebrow transplant can save you money in the long run, especially if you are getting eyebrow extensions, purchasing cosmetics, or getting microblading procedures regularly, and can look a lot more natural than other options.

 

What about you? Is this a procedure you’d consider? Or are you happy with your very own natural caterpillars? I’d love to know your thoughts on this procedure. 

 

If you’re curious what an eyebrow transplant looks like in detail, we have a video documenting the surgery with one of my wonderful patients, as well as a recent reaction video. 

The content of this newsletter is for entertainment and educational purposes only. This content is not meant to provide any medical advice or treat any medical conditions. Patients must be evaluated by an appropriate healthcare provider on an individual basis and treatment must be tailored to meet that patient’s needs. Results and particular outcomes are not guaranteed.