Felicity

No, I don't think the native hair will grow back. At least mine did not. You can try some hair growth products like rogaine or there are some others on the market like Jan Marini. I am just telling you my experience. I have mostly all transplanted hair in all areas, even though my problem was all with the front portion of the eyebrows. My 1st doctor put hairs throughout the whole eyebrow. So-give the products a try. Who did the transplant? Are you happy so far, besides the hair loss?

Hi-how are things going? Any better? Do your eyebrows improve in their look after the chemical straightening? That was interesting. I agree that this is a pain. Keep in touch.

I am so sorry to hear about the troubles you are having with your transplant. I have never heard of chemically straightening your eyebrows-interesting...so you still have to use thick gel to keep them down? Wow! I do understand your frustration. I, too, would do ANYTHING to go back to the time before my transplant. My eyebrows were somewhat thin, but I would gladly go back. As you already read, my initial transplant was terrible. If I posted my pictures on here, noone would get one. Anyway, I am coming from the standpoint of someone who has had to do a major repair-basically take the old out and put in new. The whole thing has made me want to scream. I can hardly believe I got myself into this. Yes, Dr. Shapiro and staff have been terrific and I have no idea what I would have done without them because I was very depressed. My transplant is much better now-we have done electrolysis and also put more in after that-a long process-but worth it-because it is alot better. One eyebrow is actually pretty decent and lays pretty flat and I don't need to gel it to death. The other one needs more improvement-we have to work on that one some more. Dr. Shapiro is willing to keep working on this-he is a very patient and compassionate guy. The problem brow is still springy and I have to gel it quite a bit still so that it will lay down flat but if I leave it longer it lays down better. So-I guess the answer to your question is yes, some lays flat and some needs help-but he has had to correct it little by little. As he told me, it will never look like native hair and I wish I had known all the possible issues other than that I had to cut it. Hairs tend to protrude off the skin unlike native hairs and native hair is softer. We may do some laser to make it softer. So-as for yours, you say it is fairly thin caliber hair and does not stay down? Interesting-mine was extremely thick and ugly when I had it done initially. I doubt if the hair will change and lay flatter but I would try keeping them longer and also running a toothbrush through them at night with hairspray on it and sleep with the hairspray on them and they may learn to lay down a little better. I did that initially and I think it worked a little but mine were very thick and looked like spiders. With thinner hair you could see if it works. I would also try finding some men's hair gel that would not be shiny. I have tried women's gel and it shines and looks packed together and unnatural. Mine stays down pretty well with the regular eyebrow gel. I just hate how I have to leave it a little longer on one and it looks packed together -this is all alot of trial and error so I don't know what will work for you. I would be interested in more information about the chemical procedure you do every month. Also-did you have alot of grafts put in? You could also call Dr. Shapiro and see if he could improve your situation. But, yes, I regret this alot and I hate the thought of this annoyance for the rest of my life, but at least it has improved. I would give all of my money to go back to prior to the transplant. Feel free to contact me again-because I do understand your frustration.

Thanks for your inquiry and kind words as to the hope that I am getting some help in improving my situation. I would rather not get into all of the details of the case of the original transplant. It is just depressing to re-live it. I don't know where all of the details are on this forum(that I wrote before) but it is there somewhere. I am working with Dr. Ron Shapiro and he has been wonderful and there has been improvement. I have been out to Minnesota several times and he and his staff is wonderful. We may actually do more to get some more improvement. Janna is the medical coordinator and she is often on this forum, so perhaps you can touch base with her about your situation. She is great and really went out of her way to talk to me alot when I first did the original transplant. I am just so thankful for them. I don't know what I would have done if I had not found them because it was all so depressing. I would definitely talk to them about your situation. You do not want to make a wrong move because it is a lifelong commitment because of the maintenance and it will never be like having your own native hair but he would be the one I would trust to get it as good as possible with these things. I also had alot of shock loss which was a real disappointment too. Suffice it to say that I think you should talk to them. They are obviously well aware of all of the potential problems and they are very familiar with me and the issues that I had. So-feel free to send an update to me if you want. Good luck.

Dr. Epstein- I made a promise to this forum that I would not discuss the case in any specifics anymore with you on this forum or about you to the forum. I feel that I have gone out of my way to give you the benefit of the doubt about your practice with your other patients over the 15 years of business and in not releasing my pictures to the public forum. My experience still stands as is and I see what I see. If anyone wants to notify me by private email about anything else in specifics, then they can do so.

I just wanted the forum to know that I have now shared my experience with Dr. Epstein and it is not productive for the Dr. and I to go back and forth on this case on this forum or for me to share any more specifics about my experience. I felt I had to answer his post, but that will be it. You all know my experience now, and he knows my concerns, and there is no jury here, so everyone can make their own conclusion to the experience and the posts on it and maybe be more proactive in their research. I will not say anything more about the case, and if anyone wants more information about the process, etc. then they can send me a private email. I already got one that I will reply to. To go over specifics with the doctor or share more gripes on this forum is not productive. I will now just get your feedback and reply to general questions on the forum. Not talk about specifics with Dr. Epstein or about Dr. Epstein. I am not trying to discredit his name and I want it to be publicly known that I have been in contact with a few doctors in the past year that, if they know of him, have said that he has a great reputation. I have not heard anything bad about his practice. There are not many posts about eyebrow transplants on this forum, or looking for a doctor to do them, so I doubt that he has to worry too much about his reputation. I wish there were so that I could have been better educated. His scalp transplants look great. I did not mean to appear to use this forum as an Epstein-bashing.

Dr. Epstein- Just to clarify-I mentioned some specifics of my case in order to clarify my position that I am not unrealistic. If I don't talk about specifics, then I can not explain my position. I already had postings of my experience on the forum with the wacky hair, etc. so it is not really news. I do understand that you have had a good reputation for 15 years and that is wonderful and I wish I could say that I join in with the rest of the 15 years of happy patients.

want hairs- Just to reply to your post...I am sure you are fine with your scalp transplant with Dr. Epstein. There are good reports on this forum about him. I, in no way, wanted to make you nervous about your procedure. I had an eyebrow transplant-which is a totally different thing...and I am not unrealistic, by the way.

Bill- I did notify Dr. Epstein of my posting about him and I am sorry if I did not do things correctly on this forum, ie. notifying the doctor that I was posting about him and starting my own thread. I did not know I was supposed to start my own thread. I had already told Dr. Epstein of my gripes before I posted on this forum though. Yes-I know he offered to implant more hairs for free. I am reluctant to do so though, for obvious reasons. I have posted a reply to Dr. Epstein's post.

This is Felicity-your unhappy patient. Your clarification of the situation has some errors and I felt that I needed to respond. When I had the appointment, you only spend maybe 10 minutes in the consultation room with me and told me hardly nothing about the procedure. This is a serious procedure and has alot of maintaining that a patient does afterward. I was only told that I would have to trim the hairs once a month and that was it. Nothing about the risks, like that your natural hair may fall out or that the hair would not look like natural hair. I knew that there was an occassional hair that may grow wacky, because I read that on the information sheet. I did not think that the majority of them would grow wacky. It is just a constructive criticism, but you should educate the patients more before they plunge into the operating room. The fact that you have discussed the matter with me is really not totally accurate. I asked many times what to do, and you said to pluck them out if I did not like them. You said to use gel if I did not like them. Well, I bought every gel known to mankind to try to calm them down and then I tried hairspray, but it is very difficult to mat them all down when most of them go in wacky directions, and then you cannot sneeze if you have them matted down or they come loose. I then went to trimming them shorter, and now I have hired a cosmetologist to trim them for me because they grow so wacky and I can't stand doing it myself and I have thrown out my makeup mirror because it is too depressing to look very closely at them. Having you say to pluck them and gel them is not exactly assistance. When I wrote and told you that if I pluck, that would be taking out half my eyebrow, and I needed another solution, I got no answer. Roxy has emailed me several times to come down, but it does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling to get on the plane and fly down when I have had no feedback on what to do. Then I lost alot of natural hairs in the procedure. I would gladly go back to the way I was prior to the operation because it looked 100% better. But, I can't because I lost alot of natural hair. I have sent you my pictures in the past and you said they were coming along nicely and did not seem to acknowledge my issues-like looking like I had a cowlick because the bottom hairs grow straight down and the beginning grow straight out, etc. So, that did not give me a warm feeling either. I asked about why I lost my natural hair and you said you did not know. I never expected perfection and I was not looking for an unrealistic outcome, as you seem to indicate. I was just looking for hairs growing in the right direction and having my gaps and arches filled in. And looking better than I did when I went down. If you do 10% reparative procedures, how come you could not offer any ideas as to why all of this happened? You say you have an idea what could go wrong in these things. Well, a little communication goes a long way. It is frustrating sitting here looking at these eyebrows every day with no answers. Yes, you did draw the eyebrow shape and you did make the slits to put the hairs in and may have started the planting of them yourself but you only popped in a few times and yes, you did check them afterwards. Maybe you should explain this to people - that these assisants are very knowledgeable, and that we are in good hands, etc. I guess I expected the doctor to be in the room most of the time. That is not really my biggest gripe. But I want the forum to know that I am not unrealistic. My pictures look horrible and I never dreamed they would look worse then when I went down. You have to understand that it is a very deflating feeling to know that I have to live with this for the next 60 years if I live to be in my 90's. Because they grow so weird, I have to keep them pretty short and then they look stubbly and the bottoms just stick straight down so there is not much I can do there except cut them practically to nothing. Then I cover up my cowlick and the wackiness with eyebrow pencil. Yes, I know that you offered to put more hairs in for free, but I am not thrilled to go through this again with you. I think every logical person would see my point. I know I will be looked upon as a major complainer and I really am not usually a complainer and am a realistic person. I just wanted the forum to know that they need to be proactive and not believe everything they read. They need to do their research because their doctor will not always give them all the information. And when you ask for recommendations of doctors, you only will get happy patients. So in this forum, maybe people can be more aware of things to look for before they do a transplant. And sharing their experience with a doctor is what this forum does. I notified you that I posted about you on this forum - so I want the forum to know that I was not trying to be sneaky. I was informed by the editors of this forum that I should discuss the gripes with you and tell you about the forum so you can have equal time, and I did that. I am truly sorry to the forum that I posted on here without telling the doctor first, but I did not know I needed to until it was brought to my attention. I am not trying to ruin your reputation, only sharing my experience. The fact that my experience was not good and that I wish I had not done it is not my fault. I wish I could post a glowing report. Apparently, from what you say, your patients are all happy. If they are, I am truly happy for them because I want everyone to have a good transplant. You do have a good reputation on this forum. There isn't many postings on people that had eyebrow transplants on this forum, which is unfortunate. So...if I am the only unhappy patient, then I guess I was the unlucky one to have a lousy result. The cosmetologist that I hired to trim my eyebrows each week thinks they are wacky too-this business does facials, hair, makeup, eyebrow permanent makeup, etc. and they have people interested in eyebrow transplants-but I cannot, in good conscience, send anyone to you. I am sorry, but I cannot. I am not imagining things, because the girls that work in there feel bad for me that the hair is so wacky and ask me if anyone can fix it. I really, really do wish I was happy. It is nothing against you personally, and I wish you good success. I am not out to smear your name. My hope is that something can be learned by this experience and that my name will not be mud from now on. Maybe it was a mistake to post on the forum in the first place, but I did it out of pure motive-to warn people that these things don't always turn out so great. You have to sympathize with the fact that I am stuck looking worse than when I went down. You seem like a nice man, from the brief time that we spent together, and please know that I am not being vindictive when I explain my experience and outcome. But to say that you discussed the situation alot with me is stretching the truth a little, as I have outlined above.

I had an eyebrow transplant done by Dr. Jeff Epstein and it looks terrible. I would never recommend him to anyone. The hairs grow in the wrong directions and it looks worse than it did before I went down. And I lost some natural hair too. I get no answers from him either as to what to do or why it happened. He was hardly in the surgery except to put the slits in the brows and then come back at the end to check on it. I wish I could go back in time...Do not recommend him for eyebrows. Maybe he is better at scalps.

Sara Wasserbauer is in Ca. and Paul McAndrews is in Ca. I don't know if their work is any good though. I thought Dr.Jeff Epstein was good too and he isn't. Don't believe everything you read. I would not do it again. If it is just damage to the tops of your brow, then consider permanent makeup there. Once they start implanting hairs in surgery, you may lose your natural hair like I did. I would say don't do it. It was the worst decision of my life. And it is a big pain to trim all the time.

Do not go to Dr. Jeff Epstein in Fl. for an eyebrow transplant. I had one done in 06 and it looks horrendous. It is all a lie that the hairs can be controlled to go in just the right direction. They do not. I cut mine extremely short and then they look like stubble. If I don't and the hair is long, they stick out in all directions or look like a cowlick. He does not care either and will not answer me as to any suggestions of what to do now. He just writes these short emails back, if he answers at all, and says everything is fine. When pressed about it, he says they should have grown better. But I am the one stuck with this mess. I am disgusted with the whole experience. My brows looked better before I went to do this and my before pictures are so....much better. I think I lost some of my natural hairs when I had this done too. Noone told me that might happen. He told me practically nothing about what to expect and was hardly in the room except to put the slits in and check it after. If you do this, you will have to trim them every 3 days. He told me a month, which is a joke. I am currently looking for someone to fix the mess. I would consult with Dr. Beehner in NY or Dr. Bauman in Fl. Dr. Beehner is very nice and I have never met Dr. Bauman yet. I am currently doing research on doctors. I would probably tell you not to do it unless yours are really thin. It is not all it is cracked up to be, or else, I had a very bad transplant. There is not many pictures on websites of eyebrow transplants, unfortunately.