Permanently Beautiful

Did you know permanent makeup can be a stress relieving solution for those who suffer from Alopecia Universalis, a medical condition involving rapid loss of all hair including eyebrows and eyelashes?  This medical condition, which is the most severe form of Alopecia affects about 1 out of every 100,000 people throughout the world.  One fifth of people with the condition have a family history of Alopecia, or hair loss.   

Alopecia Universalis is thought to be an autoimmune disease in which a person’s immune system mistakenly attacks their hair follicles, although the cause is still technically unknown.  Although this disease is relatively rare, it is all too real to the many men and women who suffer from the condition.  Absence of normal hair growth on the head and face can cause embarrassment and lack of confidence.  It can sometimes also cause unwanted attention and questioning from strangers. 

Permanent tattooing (or permanent cosmetics) offers those with Alopecia an attractive and affordable solution to these issues.  Wigs can help with hair loss on the scalp, but what about eyebrows?  Permanent makeup can be used to create natural looking eyebrows in absence of hair growth above the eye. 

Whether you suffer from Pattern Alopecia, Androgenic Alopecia, or Traction Alopecia (compulsive hair pulling or tweezing), permanent makeup can help.

Hair loss isn’t something that happens only to men. While female hair loss doesn’t usually reach the “bullet head” stage, many women do experience varying degrees of hair loss as they age. You may have noticed women in their golden years whose hair is so thin that their scalp can be clearly seen through the wispy stands. Some women even develop a circular bald spot at their crown.

Called Androgenetic Alopecia, clinical pattern baldness can happen to men, women and even children. When they’re pregnant, quite a few women suffer thinning hair caused by hormonal changes. In many cases the hair regains its pre-pregnancy thickness but in some cases the hair loss is permanent.

Thinning hair and bald spots can be especially distressing to women because it is unexpected and unaccepted by society. Men may loathe losing their hair, but at least hair loss is anticipated as a normal part of male aging. That is not the case for women which makes the thinning of their hair that much more devastating. Women may feel tremendously embarrassed by their loss of hair, even freak-like.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Paramedical tattooing, the clinical application of permanent makeup, can give the appearance of hair where hair has been lost, making it look as if you have a full head of hair. By injecting medical-grade pigment into the dermal layers of the skin, a permanent makeup artist can create the illusion of individual hairs on the scalp, effectively camouflaging female hair loss.

It’s surprising what a difference in our appearance our eyebrows make. That arch of hair over each eye frames and defines our face. Perhaps our most expressive facial feature, we use our eyebrows to express delight, anger, surprise and thoughtfulness. Our eyebrows make us look human. Without eyebrows we look vaguely robotic and incomplete. 

Believed to be an autoimmune disorder, Alopecia Areata Universalis causes rapid loss of all facial and body hair. It can strike at any age, including early childhood, leaving alopecia sufferers feeling self-conscious and extremely uncomfortable about their appearance. Some sufferers of the disorder say the stares and rude comments of strangers can make them feel freakish about their appearance and reluctant to participate in social activities.

Many alopecia sufferers have found relief from their condition in paramedical tattooing. Using precision paramedical tattoo techniques, expert permanent makeup artists like Melany Whitney are able to create natural-looking permanent eyebrows where none existed. To help alopecia sufferers reclaim their natural beauty, Melany combines expert technical skill with her talent as a professional artist to tattoo individual eyebrow “hairs” above the eye sockets, creating perfectly-shaped eyebrows that look three-dimensional and completely natural.

To find out more about paramedical tattoo solutions to Alopecia Areata Universalis and view before and after photos of actual patients, click here to visit our website.

It begins with a small bald patch. In as little as 4 to 6 weeks, every hair on your body disappears. You are completely and totally bald. Your head, eyelashes, eyebrows, beard, arms, legs — yes, even there. Alopecia areata sufferers may joke about never having to wax or shave again, but nothing about this disease is funny. Alopecia drastically changes a person’s appearance, causing severe emotional pain.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that induces the body to attack its own hair follicles. Progression of the disease, which attacks men and women equally, is individual and unpredictable for the 2% of the population affected. Some alopecia sufferers lose every hair on their body (alopecia universalis); others experience a few bald patches.

Genetic research at Columbia University shines the first rays of hope on this emotionally devastating disease. Researchers have discovered a genetic trigger that focuses immune cells on hair follicles, killing them. Previously, scientists believed alopecia was an autoimmune skin disease like psoriasis. New research indicates that alopecia behaves more like rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease. Heralded as a major breakthrough, researchers hope new findings will lead to a cure for alopecia.

For now, paramedical tattooing offers the only solution for alopecia sufferers. A skilled permanent makeup artist can tattoo natural-looking hairs to fill in patchy beards or eyebrows for those suffering mild cases of alopecia. While there is little relief for alopecia universalis sufferers, tattooed permanent eyebrows can give the face a normal appearance.

My friend is distraught. She isn’t even 30 and she’s starting to lose her hair. We expect men to have thinning hair and bald spots, but women? Sure you see the occasional older woman with wispy hair. I had an aunt with hair so thin you could see her pink scalp through her wispy bouffant, but she was in her 80s. Thinning hair just isn’t something most women think about. Unfortunately, Alopecia Areata Universalis (AAU) is more common than you’d expect.

The second most common hair loss disease, AAU more often affects women, although it can affect men and children. AAU occurs in apparently healthy people like my friend and generally develops in the late teens or young adulthood. Sometimes called “spot baldness,” in its early stages the disease creates small thinning patches that can become bald. The disease can spread over the entire scalp and even affect other body hair, including eyebrows, eyelashes and pubic hair.

Researchers suspect a genetic factor as the non-communicable disease appears to be hereditary. Research also indicates that AAU may be an autoimmune disease exacerbated by stress. Whatever its cause, my friend finds it highly embarrassing. Fortunately, permanent makeup can help restore to eyebrows, eyelashes and scalp the natural appearance of hair lost from Alopecia Areata Universalis. Combining expert cosmetic tattooing with practiced artistry, Melany Whitney can restore a woman’s confidence by recreating naturally sensuous eyebrows and eyelashes and using permanent paramedical repigmentation to help hide scalp hair loss.