How do you fix a botched eyebrow job?
Eyebrows become thinner due to aging and overplucking, thus the popularity of procedures like microblading. But when done by inexperienced hands, it could mean disaster
An aesthetics clinician is cautioning the public to do their homework before undergoing noninvasive or minimally invasive eyebrow restoration procedures (sometimes called semipermanent eyebrows) from beauty centers and salons.
“In my 40 years of practice, I have repaired or reconstructed over 100 major cases of botched eyebrow pigmentation, while our eyebrow artists have performed some 500 minor repairs,” says Susan Ong dela Fuente, chairperson of Prettylooks Aesthetic Center.
Three of Dela Fuente’s male clients have agreed to have their before-and-after photos published to expose the possible risks of these procedures. One female allowed only her eyebrows to be revealed.
In aesthetics, eyebrows can dramatically transform the face by adding definition, dramatizing the face or making small eyes look larger. Over time, eyebrows become thinner due to aging, overplucking, hair loss and trauma. Thus, eyebrow restoration such as aesthetic tattoos became popular in the late 20th century. Recently, microblading and micropigmentation have been offered in aesthetic centers and salons.
Microblading uses a fine pen-like needle that deposits pigments into the shallow
layers of the skin. The needle produces strokes that resemble real hair. In micropigmentation, several fine needles set down the pigments (organic or synthetic ink) into the deeper layers of the dermis for long-lasting effects.
Clown brows
A pharmacist, Dela Fuente has seen the evolution of micropigmentation for eyebrows since she first studied it from a professor at an aesthetic clinic
in Taiwan in 1983. She observes that many Filipinos favor the fuller and soft-angled brows, including men and teenagers. Semipermanent eyebrows are popular among clients with sparse brows.
When done by inexperienced hands, the eyebrows could be unsuitable for the face, resulting in unevenness, discoloration, infection or a harsh look. Botched jobs can potentially damage the brows. Dela Fuente says the repair takes a long time because it requires an assessment of the client’s skin reaction to the botched eyebrows, removal of pigment through laser, complete healing before reshaping the brow and determining the correct pigment for the skin.
She cites advanced tattoo removal technologies such as PicoSure, which is ideal for resistant pigments, and PicoWay laser for reddish and black pigments, which are safer and require less sessions than the traditional Q laser.
“The men’s repair has been the worst that I’ve handled,” she says. A professor, who fell asleep during his procedure in a salon, came out looking like a clown with his boxy and blackened eyebrows. “The brows looked as if the artist had used Pentel pen (permanent marker),” she says.
He underwent a laser procedure that slowly removed the pigmentation by breaking up the pigment particles under the skin. It took Dela Fuente nearly a year to remove the heavy pigment on his brows.
“His skin had to heal for four to six weeks before he had another laser treatment,” explains Dela Fuente. “It was the most complicated because of number of sessions required to remove the excessive black color. The skin was still sensitive. We had to wait before the brows could be reconstructed.”
Allergic reaction
A businessman complained about getting feminine semipermanent eyebrow makeup. Done 15 years ago, the eyebrows were created with the use of a tattoo machine in a beauty salon.
Another male client was left with a bluish tattoo on the eyebrows. “It was obviously synthetic ink or a fake micropigment,” says Dela Fuente. “This error was not as deep as the other cases.”
In another salon, a female client insisted in having her eyebrows shaped according to what she wanted. The eyebrow artist didn’t fully comprehend the instructions, so as a result, her client’s eyebrows were too wide and unnatural. Unhappy with the results, the client went to another salon to correct the eyebrows. However, the laser removals resulted in keloid formation, with rubbery nodules in the eyebrows. Laser removal likewise left her with scars and redness.
Dela Fuente gave the client an injectable to reduce the keloid before the eyebrows were corrected.
She warns clients to be careful with the eyebrow artists. “Sometimes their hands are too heavy that the procedure could damage the hair papilla at the bottom of the hair follicles and ruin hair formation, or it could leave scarring. Patients could also get an infection or allergic reaction if the equipment is not sterilized.”
Dela Fuente also cautions the eyebrow artists not to always give in to the clients’ demands, which may lead to disastrous results.
“These artists should use their judgment in shaping the eyebrows that would be appropriate for their clients.”