Dr. Melissa Toyos is an oculofacial surgeon specializing in FUE (follicular unit extraction) hair and eyebrow transplantation, CO2 facial resurfacing, and sculpting faces with injectables. A summa cum laude graduate and board-certified Ophthalmologist, she is a partner at Toyos Clinic and formerly was a partner at one of the largest eye care practices in the country. Dr. Toyos is a national researcher and lecturer. She trains other doctors on surgical techniques as well as cosmetic procedures. Her clinical research has been instrumental in many FDA approvals. She is the former President of the Missouri Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. She has held various leadership positions with the AAO. Dr. Toyos has served as a mentor to young female surgeons, helping them understand how to balance a career and motherhood.
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Haute Beauty expert Dr. Melissa Toyos dishes on her personal experience with FUE eyebrow transplantation. Here's what she had to say:
What do Meagan Good, Chrissy Tiegen and I have in common? We are all super happy with our FUE eyebrow transplantation and telling the world about it. Meagan and Chrissy were admitted over-pluckers (weren’t we all in the 90s?) but my brows were just getting thin towards the outside (that’s usually from too many birthdays and sometimes from thyroid). I also wanted to create a little bit more arch and symmetry to my brows.
We were doing transplants in my office one day (both scalp and eyebrow) and I got the itch. I had my brows microbladed a few years back and the results were good, but up close, you could tell it wasn’t natural. Microblading is great but it’s semi-permanent and needs touching up every so often. The color of the ink naturally fades over time. My transplant procedure was basically just to place hairs in the microbladed area for more natural results, but I also took the opportunity to make sure that my face-framers were as symmetric and aesthetically pleasing as possible.
The procedure took about four hours and I did it after work on a Friday. I’ve got a tiny little shaved place on the back of my head that you can’t see at all with my hair down or even with a ponytail. The procedure itself was painless and afterward, I only needed Advil. I was a little swollen when I woke up the next day -especially around the eyes. The worst of the swelling was about 72 hours. I actually went out to an NFL game the day after the transplant with paparazzi-blocking sunglasses and was back at work (sunglasses-free) the following Monday.
The aftercare has been easy, basically leaving the grafts open to the air and being careful not to rub or touch them. The donor sites were a little tender the first night but I had no problem sleeping. The new hairs itch as they heal so you have to be careful not to scratch. It’s day 3 and I’m already getting compliments: “your makeup looks so good!” even though my grafts, up close, are still a little scabby.
I expect the grafts to fall out in the next few days and the new hairs to start growing in the next few months. The grafts will grow like head hair so I’ll need to groom them more frequently than regular brows. But that’s an easy trade-off for having natural-looking, healthy brows forever and I’m already looking forward to throwing away my eyebrow pencil forever.
