EYEBROW TRANSPLANT - THE CRAZY WORLD OF COSMETIC SURGERY

A very wacky procedure costing $6000.

I have begun intermittently watching plastic surgery shows. Mainly because my former personal trainer is so anti plastic surgery and his rants have brought some of the issues to my attention.

I don't watch a great deal of TV but sometimes have the "boob tube" on for noise or diversion while doing housework.

Okay, so viola there was a program - get this - about eyebrow transplants!

They came up with the procedure originally to help those with no eyebrows due to burns or skin disease or chemotherapy and also supposedly to cover up permanent makeup tatoos. But of course now they are offering it for those who want perfectly enhanced eyebrows. The hook is that the eyebrows are a frame for the face and are actually quite important to appearance.

So just like people wanting Angelina Jolie lips - they could now get Brook Shields eyebrows albeit for about $6000.

How do they do it? - they cut a strip from the scalp (2-3 inches long - so you can't have really short hair or the scar might show)and hair by hair transplant them to the eyebrows a bit of a bloody sore, procedure just like hair transplants. I believe they implant about 300-400 hairs for each eyebrow - not all of the grafts take so it may have to be repeated.

Alright, now to why this is the most ridiculous procedure ever? Well guess what - the hair grows like the hair on the head - you know - the place it is transplanted from.

CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING TO GO TO THE HAIRDRESSER FOR EYEBROW TRIMS ON A REGULAR BASIS? Why not just let em grow and wear them in a pony tail? And you have to use gel to train the hair as well.

Geez Louise. You'd think even if they are going to help those with no eyebrows, they could find an area of the body to transplant from which has a similar growth pattern.

There are other ways of doing it. A really good permanent makeup esthetician can 'tattoo' eyebrows which has got to be better than having to have a hair cut on your brows on a regular basis. And the cost is around $400 and it lasts for about 5 years - I will get more info on that and post at a later date. But of course the plastic surgeon's article almost pre-empted the topic by giving permanent makeup as one reason for needing the surgery (e.g. to cover the tatoo with hair so it is not visible). It has probably been 5 years why not just have them re-tatooed - how could it be more unnatural than having to shampoo condition gel and cut your eyebrows on a regular basis?