Interview: Inside Cosmetic Surgery Today

I recently did an interview on the growing popularity of eyelash and eyebrow transplants with Dr. Barry Lycka at Inside Cosmetic Surgery Today. For those who want to learn more about these cutting-edge procedures, check it out at this link. 

Eyelash and eyebrow transplants were originally developed to help trauma patients. Today, they're a helpful treatment for women with thin or sparse lashes or brows, either due to their genetic predisposition or as a result of over-plucking, trichotillomania, etc. In this procedure, living and growing hairs are taken from the back of the scalp and implanted directly into the upper eyelids, or the brows. The transplanted hairs will continue to grow, just like the hair on your head!

Back in 2006, I was the first U.S. doctor to teach hair restoration physicians how to perform eyelash transplantation at the world's first live surgery workshop in California. Check out these 2006 interviews with Good Morning America and Extra for more details about this procedure.

Olivia Munn Admits Trichotillomania

"Photo by PR Photos"

Actress Olivia Munn's career seems to be taking off, but it appears the stress of stardom is taking its toll on the beauty.

Munn recently opened up about her struggles with Trichotillomania, an impulse control and anxiety disorder, which can cause those afflicted to pull out hair from any part of their body, including the scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes. She was quoted telling The New York Daily News, “I don’t bite my nails, but I rip out my eyelashes.”

Frequent hair-pulling traumatizes the follicles and can lead to permanent hair loss. Trichotillomania often leads to the total loss of eyelashes and eyebrows, in addition to bald spots in the scalp. The permanent hair loss can make it difficult for recovered trichotillomaniacs to return to a normal life. But there are treatment options available that can help these patients regain a natural look once their condition has been successfully treated, including:

• "Eyelash transplantation": A new surgical procedure that creates new living, growing eyelashes by transplanting hair from the scalp into the upper eyelids. Doctors can implant up to 100 new lashes per eye in a single session.
• "Eyebrow transplantation": Delicate single-follicle transplant procedure that recreates the eyebrows by imitating the unique angle and position of the original hair follicles. The popular technique has been described by Dr. Alan Bauman in multiple lectures and publications, include three widely popular hair transplant textbooks on hair transplantation including "Hair Transplantation" by Avram/Rogers, and "Hair Transplantation 5th Edition", edited by Unger/Shapiro.
• "Follicular-unit extraction": Minimally invasive, micro-surgical hair restoration procedure that uses tiny donor sites (as opposed to larger "strips" in micro-grafting) to transplant new follicles into balding areas of the scalp or eyebrows.

In many cases, trichotillomania has been successfully treated by Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy.  If you are suffering or recovering from trichotillomania, contact a ABHRS-certified hair restoration physician to help you determine which hair restoration procedure or treatment is right for you.