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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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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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Q: One of the things that I have noticed as a person who has needed to take thyroid medication for a long, long time, is that when my thyroid gets a little bit out of balance – when I’m not getting quite enough, I begin to notice is that my hair starts falling out. What about the role of thyroid for hair loss? — T.K., Mineola, NY

A: Both increases and decreases in thyroid levels can cause hair loss and changes in the levels of thyroid hormone can change the consistency of one’s hair. Elevated hormone levels cause scalp hair to be fine and soft, with diffuse thinning being relatively characteristic.

When thyroid hormone levels are low, the hair becomes dry, coarse, and brittle. Hair loss can be either patchy or diffuse (involving the entire scalp).

Low levels of thyroid hormone are associated with the loss of the outer 1/3 of the eyebrows and a decrease in body hair. When changes in thyroid hormone levels are abrupt, there can be dramatic shedding (telogen effluvium).

The most important thing to do if you have thyroid disease is to try to keep the levels within a normal range and keep them as steady as possible. If you are taking thyroid medications, try to use them on a regular basis, because alterations of ones in hair can be caused by large fluctuations in the levels, as much as by the absolute values.

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Hair loss has a variety of causes. Diagnosis and treatment is best determined by a board-certified dermatologist. We offer both in-person and online photo consults.

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