Bernstein Medical Center for Hair Restoration - Eyebrow Restoration in Women

Eyebrow Restoration in Women

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New You - Spring 2016Gone are the days when women plucked their eyebrows to a tiny strip of hair. Thicker, more full eyebrows are “in,” reports New You magazine in “A Vision of Youthful Loveliness.” Women with eyebrows that are severely thin — from over plucking, aging, trauma, or dermatological conditions — have turned to physicians for help, and Dr. Bernstein, for one, has an answer: eyebrow transplantation.

In the Spring 2016 issue of the magazine, Dr. Bernstein discusses surgical eyebrow restoration, a procedure that has grown in popularity in recent years. Whether the increased demand for eyebrow transplant procedures has been a response to fashion and style trends or increased awareness that the procedure exists, the fact is that more women than ever are inquiring about the procedure at hair restoration clinics like Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration.

In the article, Dr. Bernstein describes the procedure:

“We take hair from behind the ear or closer to the middle of the scalp if someone’s brows are coarser,” he explains of the process, which takes about five hours, and grows in gradually and then permanently after a year.

Then he touches on the appearance of the eyebrow after the procedure:

First [the transplanted hairs] have to be trimmed, but eventually they mimic the growth pattern of the eyebrows.

Eyebrow Transplant - New You MagazineThe Eyebrow Transplant section of our website contains some important tips for how to aesthetically optimize the results of the procedure:

  1. Use single-hairs in the transplant, not grafts of multiple hairs
  2. Hairs should be rotated to follow the natural curve of the brow
  3. The transplanted hair must be planted to lie as flat to the skin surface as possible
  4. The transplanted grafts should account for changes in the natural direction of the hair in different parts of the eyebrow, with the upper hairs of the eyebrow pointing out and slightly downward and the lower ones pointing out and slightly upward, creating an interlocking ridge that gives eyebrows their fullness

Visit the Eyebrow Transplant page for more detail on the technique behind the procedure, the typical cosmetic result of the procedure, the anatomy of an eyebrow, and more.

View before after photos of some of our eyebrow transplant patients.

Images c/o New You Magazine

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British Vogue Oct 2012 CoverHair transplantation for women is in vogue. As a pioneer in the surgical treatment for female hair loss, Dr. Bernstein was featured in an article in the ‘Beauty’ section of the October 2012 issue of British Vogue.

After describing a visit to Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration in New York City and giving readers a primer on hair transplant surgery, the article turns to Dr. Bernstein to describe the surge in popularity of the treatment of hair loss in women.

“A quarter of my consults are women. It was 10 per cent five years ago,” says Dr Bernstein. “These improved [hair transplant] techniques work especially well for female hair loss, where it is usually localised patches of thinning that need attention.” And while in the chair, you can even have your eyebrows boosted to Arizona Muse quality, too, if they’ve also taken an ageing hit.

Dr. Bernstein speaks to the difficulty of being a woman suffering from hair loss:

“This is life-changing. Bald men are commonplace, but to have less than a full head of hair for a woman can be isolating. Although there are more tricks women can use to disguise the problem.”

The article also discusses a variety of products and techniques to boost hair volume or camouflage hair loss. Among these are: Kérastase, Nicky Clarke’s ‘Tease Me’ powder, Viviscal Hair Nutrition, laser stimulation, Michaeljohn’s ‘Fine Hair Clinic’, and Touché by Flavien.

Reference
“Hold Onto Your Hair”, Vogue Magazine, October 2012; p375-6.

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Journal of Drugs in DermatologyThe January 2012 issue of the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology contains an article, written by Drs. Schweiger and Bernstein, which is the first case study of eyebrow growth from the topical use of bimatoprost.

Latisse (bimatoprost) is a topical medication that is FDA-approved for eyelash growth. Some physicians have used the medication for “off-label” use, such as use with eyelashes and scalp hair. However, until recently, there had not been any published medical literature describing the off-label use.

In the case report, a 47-year-old Caucasian woman visited Bernstein Medical for an evaluation of hair loss in one of her eyebrows, also known as eyebrow hypotrichosis. The hair loss was gradual, but had become cosmetically significant, and so she became interested in treating her thinning left eyebrow.

At her evaluation, the doctor discussed treatment options with the patient, including Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and medical treatment with bimatoprost. She decided on medical treatment, and so started a four month treatment regime.

At a follow-up visit four months later, the patient reported significant thickening of her left lateral eyebrow. […] Physical examination revealed increased left eyebrow density, hair length, darker color, slight skin pigmentation, and eyelash treatment.

The conclusion of the article states:

We report one of the first cases of topical bimatoprost for successful treatment of eyebrow hypotrichosis. Studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of topical bimatoprost to treat eyebrow hypotrichosis.

Also noted is that if the efficacy and safety of the medication are confirmed through additional testing, it would be a viable non-surgical option for eyebrow restoration.

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Eyebrow transplant and restoration article - New York TimesEyebrow transplant procedures are growing in popularity. More women are realizing how much damage they can cause to their appearance by overplucking, shaping, and over-styling their eyebrows. Today, the New York Times reports on the trend of repairing eyebrows with hair transplant techniques and the use of camouflage products to cover up eyebrows that have been “tamed into oblivion.”

As the article’s headline declares, it is time to call in the professionals. The author of the article, Ms. Catherine St. Louis, turns to hair transplant pioneer Dr. Robert M. Bernstein for guidelines on performing a cosmetically-pleasing eyebrow transplant.

Here is a portion of the article:

Chronic repeated plucking is now a common reason why women have eyebrow transplants, which entail using hair from the scalp, arms or pubic area. A more timeless reason that spans the sexes is the gradual thinning, especially on the outer parts, as we age.

AND the number of such transplants is growing. In 2008, 3,484 eyebrow transplants were performed nationwide, up from 2,544 in 2004, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery says.

Dr. Robert M. Bernstein, a hair restoration specialist in Manhattan, said that the most natural-looking transplants for eyebrows followed a few rules. Hair has to lie flat; single-hair transplants, not units of multiple hairs, are used; hairs should follow a curve and be planted to account for changes in direction. (In general, Dr. Bernstein said, the upper hairs point down and lower ones face up slightly to create an interlocking ridge that gives brows their body.)

Visit our eyebrow transplant page for more information on eyebrow transplant and restoration procedures.

See another article by Ms. St. Louis on the topic of hair restoration and hair loss in women.

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Q: I have had thinning eyebrows since my early twenties (I am now 32) and they have gotten to the point that I can’t make them look good with mascara anymore. I am considering an eyebrow hair transplant, how is it different from other hair transplants? — C.C., Williamsburg, N.Y.

A: Eyebrow hair restoration procedures are similar to hair transplants to the scalp in that the hair, once transplanted, is permanent. They differ both in the techniques used to perform them and in the results.

In eyebrow transplants, only individual hairs should be used, whereas follicular units containing from 1 to 4 hairs are used in a hair transplant to the scalp. In eyebrow transplants, the hairs must be positioned to lie as flat as possible to the surface of the skin. In hair transplantation to the scalp, the angle between the hair and the scalp surface can be as much as 45 degrees or more.

As with hair transplants to the scalp, the hair transplanted to eyebrows will continue to grow and must therefore be cut. However, in contrast to hair transplants where the donor hair is generally a perfect match for scalp hair, in eyebrow transplants the hair is taken from a different part of the body and will have slightly different characteristics both in growth rate and in appearance.

Visit our eyebrow transplant page for more information on eyebrow transplant and restoration procedures.

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