Eyebrow transplant by Dr. Jason Champagne - 5 months post-op

I was a victim of the late 90's supermodel super thin eyebrow trend when I was 16 and over-plucked my then thick brows for about 5 years. I tried to let them grow back but the damage to the hair follicle was done.

They only got thinner the older I got and I resorted to trying every brow product known to man- liners, gels, and even eyebrow extensions which I never knew existed. I thought I finally found a solution since they looked pretty natural but it only made my brow problem worse because they pulled out most of the remaining hair I had left.

I was extremely self-conscious about anyone seeing me without makeup and I researched this procedure for 5 years before I actually started looking for a doctor. I narrowed it down to about 3 and was ecstatic when I saw that Dr. Champagne did virtual consultations since I live in west Texas. I had the virtual consultation the same week I called his office to get info and I scheduled my surgery date for 2 months down the road.

I was able to fly in and have my pre-op consultation the day before the surgery which at first made me a bit nervous because I didn't want to risk rushing through it and ending up with an awful shape. My fears were instantly eased after I arrived and the process began. Dr. Champagne spent over 3 hours going over everything and most of that time taking measurements and mapping out a shape and thickness he thought would look good with my features. He drew it out over my brows and we spent quite some time tweaking it until he was sure I loved it and he then took pictures of the final shape.

The next morning I arrived very early for the surgery and he began the mapping process all over again. There were 10 different blown up pictures of my face from all angles plastered all over the operating room wall that he'd taken the day before. He spent over an hour replicating the shape and didn't stop tweaking until he was sure it was absolutely perfect and I was happy with it.

His team of 2 hair harvesters then arrived and he proceeded to remove to strip of hair from the back of my head, which was much easier than I expected. First He shaved the hair strip to be taken down to a short length and then began with the lidocaine injections to the scalp. Once he removed the strip he handed it over to the harvesting team and began making the incisions on the brows. After the hair was placed, he went over each individual graft with his loupes on to make sure each one was placed in the proper direction for the shape he'd drawn out...all 700 of them! If one was out of place he's instruct his team to rotate it however many degrees needed so that it sat correctly against the skin. I was very impressed with the meticulousness of the entire process.

It took about 8 hours for the entire process as my case was pretty severe. Pain was minimal and I was only out of commission the day after. My scalp was a little tender and brows were scabbed and swollen, but I was able to throw on a baseball cap and enjoy Los Angeles 2 days later. I was able to fly home 4 days later and just had to have my stitches removed back home in a few weeks.

Even though I was warned this would happen, I couldn't help but freak out a bit when most of the transplanted hair fell out 3 weeks later. Slowly but surely it started to grow back around the 2 month mark. Then around 3 months it seems like one day they all just appeared one morning, which is when the 3 month pic was taken. The 5 month picture is how they look now, and I just have clear holding gel in them to keep them in shape.

I can't believe I waited so long to have this done. It has definitely been life changing. It definitely helped restore my confidence and it feels amazing to be free of something that made you so self conscious for so many years!