As with scalp hair restoration, eyebrow restoration at Jernigan's is also done by Dr. Grant Koher. He feels that most people underestimate the importance of eyebrows in framing the face, drawing attention to the eyes, and communicating through facial expressions. Eyebrows make an important contribution to facial symmetry and our general appearance. Have you ever seen a person that looked odd but you could not immediately determine what gave you that feeling? Most people totally ignore eyebrows on themselves and other people until they are missing. A person without eyebrows may feel very self-conscious about his/her appearance. Hair transplantation surgery in this area will restore eyebrows.

The problem with other eyebrow replacement techniques is esthetics. Eyebrow pencils and tattooing cannot duplicate the texture of real hair. These replacement methods may look good from a distance, but close up they do not look realistic.

Eyebrows can be lost in a variety of ways:

• Physical trauma—e.g., auto accident, thermal, chemical or electrical burns

• Systemic or local diseases that causes loss of eyebrows, e.g. various forms of alopecia

• Congenital inability to grow eyebrows and/or eyelashes

• Plucking (to reshape the eyebrow) that results in permanent loss of eyebrows

• Self-inflicted obsessive plucking of eyebrows and/or eyelashes (trichotillomania)

• Medical or surgical treatments that result in eyebrow or eyelash loss—e.g., tradiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgical removal of tumors.

• Hormonal imbalances

• Genetics

Dr. Koher determines the cause of eyebrow loss in a medical history and examination prior to consideration of hair restoration:

• Systemic or local disease that causes hair loss must be under control to assure that hair restoration can succeed

• Obsessive-compulsive plucking (trichotillomania) must be treated to assure that restored hair will not be plucked out

• Trauma, burns or surgery may have resulted in formation of scar tissue; reconstructive surgery may be necessary before eyebrow restoration. The degree of eyebrow loss may vary from complete to partial; the degree of loss may be a consideration in selection of the restoration procedure.

Some patients have no eyebrow loss, but consider eyebrow enhancement for cosmetic reasons. They may have little or no eyebrows due to genetics or ethnic characteristics. It may have been a lifelong problem. Dr. Koher restores an equal number of eyebrows for males and females. It is not a gender specific problem. Eyebrow restoration is an outpatient procedure that usually takes about three hours. Complications are limited to swelling and minor pain. Restoring eyebrows is easily done as part of scalp hair restoration, and Dr. Koher often does both in one day.

The eyebrows should be recreated in accordance with the natural contour of the eye socket. Dr. Koher works with the patient to outline the eyebrow area to conform to the natural symmetry of the patient’s face. Depending on the size of the area to be transplanted, more than one transplant session may be required; two or more sessions several months apart are common.

Donor hair for the transplant is taken from a site that furnishes finer rather than coarser hair because finer hair is a better match for eyebrow hair. Donor hair is transplanted as micrografts of one to two hairs. Each graft is placed into an incision prepared for it with great detail to position and angle. The use of single hairs or micrografts permits meticulous adherence to the eyebrow contour for a natural appearance. As the transplanted hairs grow in their new position they may require occasional trimming as well as "training" with gel or wax.

During a free consultation with Dr. Koher he will assess your situation and show you before and after pictures of clients with restored eyebrows.