Eyebrow & Eyelash Hair Restoration Surgery

Eyebrow & Eyelash Hair Restoration Surgery

Eyebrows and eyelashes make an important contribution to facial symmetry and presentation of self to others. A person without eyebrows and/or eyelashes may feel very self-conscious about his/her appearance. Transplantation or reconstructive surgery can often restore eyebrows and eyelashes.

Eyebrows and eyelashes are lost in a variety of ways:

• Physical trauma—e.g., auto accident, thermal, chemical or electrical burns
• Systemic or local disease that causes loss of eyebrow and/or eyelashes
• Congenital inability to grow eyebrows and/or eyelashes
• Plucking (to reshape the eyebrow) that results in permanent loss of eyebrows
• Self-inflicted obsessive plucking or eyebrows and/or eyelashes (trichotillomania)
• Medical or surgical treatments that result in eyebrow or eyelash loss—e.g., radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgical removal of tumor.

The cause of eyebrow/eyelash loss is evaluated in medical history and examination prior to consideration of hair restoration:

• Systemic or local disease that causes hair loss must be under control to assure that hair restoration can succeed
• Obsessive-compulsive plucking (trichotillomania) must be treated to assure that restored hair will not be plucked out
• Trauma, burns or surgery may have resulted in formation of scar tissue; reconstructive surgery may be necessary before eyebrow/eyelash restoration. The degree of eyebrow loss may vary from complete to partial; the degree of loss may be a consideration in selection of the restoration procedure.

Some patients have no eyebrow/eyelash loss, but seek eyebrow/ eyelash enhancement for cosmetic reasons.