Dr. Devroye, I never thought about it that way. When I complain to my wife that my hair is thin, she says it's no big deal, stop complaining...That's because she has a full head of hair! I guess eyebrows for some is the same thing. Maybe next time I'll think before I speak...or write....


Just a thought from the peanut gallery.....

Hi again,

I also want to answer your questions:
For Bill "Is there any particular grooming/trimming tips you offer your patients to help them properly groom them? In other words, I imagine some patients may have a hard time and accidentally cut them too short or even cut themselves if they aren't careful."

It is not that difficult to take care of the eyebrow after the transplant. Since I take the greatest care to place the grafts in the best orientation possible, the new hair grows through the native hairs. What is particularly unaesthetic in eyebrow transplants is when hair grows back in a too vertical way and consequently when they leave the plan of the original eyebrow. In this case it is enough to cut the hair so that it does not leave the plan of the eyebrow. I notice that often women let the grafted hair grow longer than the original hair.
As I already said, I really follow four main factors. I select the hair having the most beautiful curve (see photographs in the gallery) and in addition I am careful in taking hair of various diameters. I place the thickest ones in the center and the thinner ones at the periphery or on the tail of the eyebrow. I carried out curved and tangential incisions; I place them in a way that their curve marries the curve of the skin.

The case presented is quite specific as I used armpit hairs. So, to ensure a harvest of quality and in a sufficient number, I carried out the extraction of mini strips under the arms. The hairs were then divided under microscope, like a traditional dissection.
The result is gorgeous, and the growth is durable (we made the transplant in 2007 and the final photographs are from January 2009). The only disadvantage which strongly limits this technique is the creation of a scar under the arm. I tried with the FUE technique but this technique is often very difficult to adapt in this case.

Two main reasons made me decide to use body hairs. On the one hand, I needed to obtain a stable result without the obligation of cutting the eyebrows periodically; on the other hand body hairs' end in a peak contrarily to the scalp hair which end is more roundly.
However, I noticed that by using fine hair, especially at the periphery of the eyebrow, their round end was not visible by naked eye. The most important factor to obtain a natural result is the orientation of graft.
Nowadays, I prefer to use scalp hair for eyebrow transplant. Usually, I collect between two and three times more hair than the necessary number so to select the best of them.

For JACKY "Just curious to know if the woman in the first box experiments times where she feels that her eyebrows are thinner?"

The original pictures do not show it very clearly but this young patient had a blue mark which corresponded to a tattoo. It was more this colored trace that embarrassed her than the shape of her eyebrows.


So to illustrate what I'm talking about I've added new pictures of the surgery.


Dr. Jean Devroye MD

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Dr. Devroye and his clinic were visited and carefully reviewed by the publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, Patrick Hennessey. To view photos and highlights from this visit, click here. Dr. Devroye is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians