Eyelash Transplant

BOCA RATON, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Think you've heard it all when it comes to plastic surgery? Think again! Now, doctors are taking hair from the head to give people longer eyelashes!

Hair is important to Jodi Hussey. After all, she runs her own salon. But it was the hair around her eyes that worried her recently. "They were short and sparse and damaged," Hussey says. "I used everything. I did eyelash extensions. I used false eyelashes, a lot of mascara, a lot of curling."

Nothing helped until Hussey had an eyelash transplant. This procedure requires doctors to take hair from the head and attach it to the eyelids. Alan Bauman, M.D., a hair restoration physician with the Bauman Medical Group in Boca Raton, Fla., is one of the first doctors in the country to perform the new procedure.

Patients who initially saw me were trauma patients," Dr. Bauman says. "So, car accident victims, burn victims ... Those were the people who were requesting the procedure."

Now, women are requesting the procedure for cosmetic reasons.

First, doctors remove a patch of hair with about 100 follicles before a technician separated each hair from the skin. Next, the hair and follicles are sewn into the eyelid. The procedure takes about one hour per eye, and it's done under local anesthesia. There are fewer than 20 surgeons in the world who perform eyelash transplants, and Dr. Bauman says the most impressive results come in six to 12 months after the procedure. He also says the results are permanent since the follicle is transplanted along with the hair.

"One or two at a time, we implant the follicles into the lid," says Dr. Bauman. "Just like a seed for a new plant, they will grow. "In fact, they grow just like the hair on you head. Patients receive about 30 new lashes per eye and they have to cut and curl them frequently.

Hussey is pleased with her results.

"You couldn't see my eyes before," she says. "They did not stand out on my face, and now people are looking at me and saying, 'Oh my God, I didn't realize you had such beautifully colored eyes,' and it's really just the lashes."

Hussey says the swelling only lasted a couple of days, but the price tag was hefty at $3,000 per eye.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Alan J. Bauman
Bauman Medical Group, P.A.
Wharfside at Boca Pointe
6861 1 SW 18th St., Suite 102
Boca Raton, FL 33433-7041
(877) BAUMAN-9
info@baumanmedical.com
http://www.eyelash-transplant.com