News lash
Long, luscious lashes. Who wouldn’t want them. We’ve all tried the latest mascaras. We’ve layered them till they clump off and fall down your face. (Come on, you know what I mean.) And on special occasions we may have even tried false ones. My friend Pauline who is a fabulous make up artist tries to teach me how to apply the glue to the strip and carefully lodge on. Forget it…I end up looking like a witch. Because she’s a great friend she will spend 40 minutes with me putting on individual lashes, glue on each tip and strategically place on my lid. That’s for really special times, like my wedding or a photo shoot. If I am really careful I can sleep in them and have them one more day. But forget it…I could never do them myself!
Ok…so if there is a need, there is a way. For $3000 per eye, you can have the hairs from your head transplanted to your eyelids. I am not kidding. Dr. Alan Bauman of Boca Raton, Florida was the first to do this type of surgery. He ‘s now teaching other doctors around the country.
It started as a way to give back lashes to those who lost them in an accident or a fire. Now it’s a booming cosmetic market. Eighty percent of the transplants he does are for “looks” alone.
It sounds bizarre, but I watched him do it. And trust me if you are at all squeamish…it’s kind of gross to see. He takes a hair plug from the back of your head and transplants it to your eyelid. You are awake under local anesthesia . The hairs are long so they look a little weird at first. Hair grows in cycles. First the hair will fall out and then it will re-grow in a few months. Optimum results can be seen in about 6 months.
They grow just like your own hair and need to be cut , curled and dyed every 6 weeks. And yes there is a cosmetician trained especially to maintain your new locks. I watched her do it at Dr. Bauman’s office. She carefully dyes the lashes to match what’s currently on your head and takes a tiny scissors and trims your eyelashes.
The results are quite amazing. I met a model who has fabulous lashes now thanks to the implant. I also interviewed a mother of 3 who lost her hair to chemotherapy and while it grew back on her head, it didn’t on her lashes. She couldn’t be more thrilled with her results.
Think this all sounds a bit too much? Dr. Bauman says his eyelash transplant business has gone up by 300% in just one year. After all if men can have transplants…why can’t women?
As for me, I will continue to beg Pauline to help me for those special occasions.