American Hair Loss Association | Hair Transplant & Hair Loss Blog

Archive for the ‘thyroid’ Category

Question:

I’ve been hearing a lot of about eyelash hair transplants in the news but I never hear about people having an eyebrow hair transplant. My eyebrows are very sparse from years of plucking. I am forced to basically draw them on now but would love to have an eyebrow transplant if possible. Do all hair transplant doctors do this type of procedure or do I have to find someone who specializes in it? And where do I look? Also can I send digital pictures to your organization for an evaluation?
Thank you for your help.

Answer:

Having an eyebrow transplant is a very good option for those interested in restoring lost eyebrow hair, but remember, the patient has to be very careful when choosing a hair transplant surgeon for this very specialized procedure.

The absence of eyebrow hair is not uncommon and can be due to many factors including, genetics, over plucking, trauma from an accident or surgery, thyroid and hormonal conditions as well as burns.

Like a conventional hair transplant the donor hair is removed from the back of the scalp to be transplanted into the area that needs to be restored. Since the hair that is being transplanted comes form the scalp, it is genetically programmed to grow like scalp hair and will need to be trimmed on a regular basis.

An eyebrow hair transplant is an extremely delicate procedure that takes a significant amount of skill and experience to perform properly. To provide a completely natural appearance the hair transplant surgeon has to place each individual hair with painstaking precision in order mimic the exact angle and direction of naturally occurring eyebrow growth.

Between 50 to as many as 325 individual hairs are painstakingly placed in each eyebrow depending on the level of restoration needed. In most cases the desired result can be achieved after only one procedure.

An eyebrow transplant is usually performed using a mild oral sedative and can take around 2 hours to complete. Most patents report that the procedure is virtually painless and the recovery period is relatively short.

During the first week of recovery the patient will experience the formation of tiny crusts around each transplanted hair. During this period the crusts will fall leaving a slightly pinkish appearance to the eyebrow which usually fades by the end of the first week leaving the patient with a completely normal appearance. The sutures that were placed in the donor area on the back of the scalp are removed at the end of the first week as well.

After about two weeks the transplanted hair falls out and begins to regrow within three months. Once the newly transplanted hairs begin to grow they should continue to grow for a lifetime.

Again, when considering this procedure only consult with a hair transplant surgeon that has extensive experience with eyebrow hair transplantation. Avoid the large chain hair transplant clinics that advertise on TV since experts agree that quality control in these clinics is usually below acceptable standards.

To find an experienced hair transplant surgeon who specializes in eyebrow transplants consult with The American Hair loss Association or contact The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons. Once you decide on who you would like to consult with you can always forward on digital images of yourself to be evaluated prior to a face to face consultation.

Depending on who you talk to, anywhere from 22 million to 59 million people have a thyroid condition. I tend to think the truth is that 59 million may even be the conservative number! And whichever number you use, the sad reality is that the majority of people with a thyroid problem don’t even know they have that problem. They haven’t even been diagnosed yet.

Thyroid symptoms tend to be what doctors call “non-specific,” meaning they aren’t necessarily focused in on a particular disease. You get sharp pain in the abdomen near your appendix — that’s a “specific symptom.” But you get fatigue, depression, anxiety, weight changes, and hair loss, and you could be stressed, depressed, hormonal, or have any one of a number of conditions, including thyroid disease. But figuring out what’s going on with you takes time, and costs money, and so if you go to the doctor complaining of these kind of non-specific symptoms, your doctor — guided by HMO and insurance company policy — may send you off not to get your thyroid tested, but instead, with a prescription for an antidepressant, or a recommendation to take up yoga, or the warning that you need to “stop eating so much.” (more…)

When you think “thyroid,” you may have in your mind someone with an enlarged neck, or bulging eyes, or who is very overweight. And while these exaggerated symptoms may be associated with some cases of thyroid conditions, the majority of thyroid patients will never have those more obvious symptoms. In fact, if you have a thyroid condition, you’re more likely to notice too much hair in your brush, or in your drain, or on your pillow.

What is the thyroid, what does it do, how do you get diagnosed? These are all issues that I’ll be tackling here as as I focus on the thyroid- and hormone-imbalace related aspects of hair loss here as a guest expert blogger for the American Hair Loss Association, which is run by hair loss guru — and my colleague and friend — Spencer Kobren.

You can read more about my background here at the AHLA Blog.

In the meantime, let’s start with the thyroid itself. It’s small, about an ounce, shaped like a butterly, and wraps around the trachea, behind and below the Adam’s apple area. And it’s your body’s metabolic engine, producing hormones that deliver energy to your cells. The thyroid can become overactive — hyperthyroidism — and that can cause many symptoms, including weight loss, anxiety, and…hair loss. And the more common thyroid problem is hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid, which can cause many troublesome symptoms, including weight gain, depression, fatigue, and…yes, hair loss.

I’ll be focusing on thyroid symptoms at greater length in future posts, but if you have fatigue, depression, anxiety, unexpected weight changes, sensitivity to temperature extremes, diarrhea and/or constipation — among other symptoms — accompanied by hair loss, it’s time to at least rule out a thyroid problem.

And the type of hair loss can be telling as well. A unique and very specific type of hair loss that can occur in hypothyroidism is loss of the outer edge of eyebrow hair. This is almost always a thyroid sign, and always warrants followup with your physician.

Also pay attention to these hair-related signs that are more common in thyroid patients …

* Hair loss not just from the head but the body (i.e., underarms, arms, legs)
* Hair that breaks easily
* Hair that has a change in texture, including becoming thinner, finer, coarser, rougher, brittler, or more strawlike
* Hair that easily tangles
* Hair that changes its qualities, and no longer will hold a perm or a curl

About the author: AHLA contributing editor Mary Shomon is a nationally-known thyroid patient advocate, and author of the “Thyroid Guide to Hair Loss.” Learn more about Mary Shomon