Eyelash Transplants: New Beauty Option

Many Women Tossing Fake Lashes And Extensions In Favor Of "New" Permanent, Fuller, Longer Lashes

(CBS)  As a hair salon owner, image is everything for Jodi Hussey, especially when it comes to her eyes.

"Our eyes are the center of our face," she says. They're the first thing people look at when they meet us."

That, says Julie Chen, is why Hussey jumped at the chance to have an eyelash transplant the minute she heard about it.

"There's no worrying they're gonna fall out in the middle of dinner," Hussey observes. "They're long, they're beautiful, and they're everything I had wanted."

Hussey, observes Chen, is among the growing number of women discarding false eyelashes and extensions, and turning to eyelash transplants instead to get permanent, fuller, longer lashes.

Hussey had always struggled with short lashes. Seven months after her transplant, she says, she has the opposite problem! "It's actually almost time to trim them … because they're starting to protrude past my other lashes."

Kim, whose last name we're not using, is getting ready for a January wedding. She says she also wanted to treat herself to a permanent solution, to end a never-ending cycle of false eyelashes that has taken a toll: "Between the makeup and the adhesive, it's very, very hard on my lashes, plus, I do it every day sometimes a couple times a day if I'm going out again. I would love to just have beautiful, long lashes that I don't have to do maintenance on every single day."

Over the past two years, says Dr. Alan Bauman (www.eyelash-transplant.com), he's witnessed an explosion in the number of patients opting for eyelash transplants for cosmetic reasons.

"When we first started offering these procedures to our patients back maybe seven or eight years ago," Bauman recalls, "it was mostly trauma patients who wanted eyelash transplantation. … But today, things have kind of switched around."

Healthy hair taken from the back of Kim's head, separated into individual follicles and threaded through a surgical needle, will become permanent, growing eyelashes when transplanted into her upper eyelid, alongside her existing lashes.

"I'm implanting the follicles one at a time into the eyelid," Bauman explained during her procedure, "and orienting the curl of the hair so that when the follicle kicks in and grows, it will grow the lash in a normal orientation, and position and direction."

The procedure takes about an hour per eye under local anesthesia, and recovery involves what Bauman says is minor bruising and swelling that heals in most patients in a matter of days.

Kim's gift to herself will cost $6,000, and get her 40 new lashes per eye.

Even though her new eyelashes have to be trimmed, Hussey says they're worth every penny.

She says, "I do curl them every once in a while, but it's so much easier; the mascara goes right on, they pop, and it's really exciting. And for a mom, that's a pretty cool thing."

Another exciting development, Chen notes, is a topical medicine used in glaucoma patients that seems to grow longer lashes, without surgery.

When it comes to enhancing their eyes, men are opting for eyebrow transplants, along with hair transplant surgery.

What a shame that people need makeup, and now surgery, to feel OK about themselves.

[rushman71]

Slightly different topic, but, one thing that makes me sick to look at is when women, young or older, pluck all their eyebrows off, then draw ugly looking eyebrows at a different angle. Talk about discusting!!! Now, I don''t mind seeing ladies take a little bit off their brows--it kind of looks a bit nicer to see a narrower line above the eyes--but not the whole danm thing!!!

[justfacts2]

This is one of the dumbest ideas I have read about yet. If she was a cancer patient or had some kind of disease making her lose her eyelashes then this would be understandable, but not for vanity. When are the baby boomers going to accept the fact that aging is normal and is something everyone is going to go through.

[oscarez]

"When it comes to enhancing their eyes, men are opting for eyebrow transplants, along with hair transplant surgery."

My God, I think I''m going to puke.

[grammawhamma]

I want to know how she trims her eyelashes without stabbing herself in the eye. This is just crazy and sick.

[sjw1253]

Part 1

I remember when I wanted a permanent mascara to alleviate the morning ritual of putting on mascara (and inevitably poking myself in the eye at least once a week)... Ouch!!!

I also remember way back in the late 70''s and early 80''s when I worked in a community hospital in Cardiology - some of the nurses would use the Nitroglycerine cream on their cuticles which would speed up their nail growth (at least that is what theys said)...

I don''t know - it is very interesting.

Personally - I never liked really long nails and I am at a point where I very rarely put any make-up on. I feel a lot more confident in my appearance and don''t fret if my hair curls and I don''t look like a movie star.

That was the young girl''s dream... I know my grandmother who just died at the age of 94 would not be caught without her make-up and her hair all done. She was beautiful - but her entire life surrounded her appearance and she did not care about being a mother/grandmother or any other things I prioritize in my life.

(to be continued)

[sjw1253]

Part 2

She was who she was - and I do think that it did affect the way I view beauty. I think it was okay for her and now I have peace in understanding that we all are different. What makes people (not just women but men as well) feel that their looks are everything.

My grandmother started for her long before all of the media pressure that we have today. I think there is so much more than just current ways of media (as it would not sell if people did not have such a strong sense of this already).

Look back at history - thousands of years ago and you will see how physical beauty has always been a big issue in the human animal