Anyway, the surgery went really well. The doc called me on Wednesday and told me that they had to move my appointment up to Thursday morning at 7:15 instead of the afternoon, so I had to call Expedia and have my hotel accommodations changed (after being on hold for, no lie, two and a half hours). Luckily I told them I needed to switch nights because I was having surgery, so they were very helpful and broke the rules for me. Turned out that my friend Erin couldn't go that night, but I got a hold of my friend Amber who was able to ride down to Miami with me with last minute notice. The ride down was quick and easy -we took I-95 straight down until we hit the Florida Turnpike and ended up paying about $10 in tolls each way. We arrived at our hotel around 11pm and had to get up at 5:30. The funny thing is that it took me about 15 minutes less time to get ready that morning because I didn't have to draw on eyebrows, haha! Oh the excitement escalated there! :)
Here is another "before" picture:
We got to the doctor's office at 7 after eating a light breakfast at Panera. We were up too early for the continental breakfast -LOL. I properly followed all of my preoperative instructions, so there were no complications from the start. I met the doctor once I got there, and he went over some paperwork, took before photos, and asked what I wanted and what my goals were. Then he asked me what happened to my eyebrows...... I told him that I was born and that maybe my parents were related since I am from West Virginia. Bahaha -I had to crack one WV joke at least. it was too good not to!
Turns out Dr. Epstein is not only an amazing doctor but an uber famous doctor as well. He is ranked one of the top 25 surgeons in world. They call him the "doctor's doctor" because he has done surgery on other doctors and famous people. He has been on the cover of many well-known magazines and inside many others. The magazine covers were hanging in frames on the walls in his office -very cool! He is in a book that was on the table too! I got to read several of the emails people have sent to him, including people from other countries, and looked at many more before/after photos of different procedures he has performed over the years. The best photos were the ones of chest hair implants (why in the world, I don't know.....?), facial hair implants, and even one pubic hair implant (yikes!). Quite entertaining during our two hour wait. Dr. Epstein has an office in Miami and one in New York... and is opening one in Los Angeles. Very cool. He was amazing, and I couldn't have felt like I was in better hands.
All of the nursing staff & med assistants (the entire team) were comforting. They danced around the office & sang out loud, spoke Spanglish (mixed a little English & Spanish at times), rubbed my arms & legs, petted me when I was shaking & when I was getting the 20+ shots to numb my entire head & eyebrows..... honestly a great team of people. First the medical assistant drew in my eyebrows (about 10 times) until we got them right. I was lucky to have Amber there to give her advice on how I wanted them because I couldn't see my own face to tell. Amber has gotten to know me well enough to see what looks good on my face. Of course, the professionals have all done this enough to know what would look good as well. So, it was a success in the end.
The doctor came in and made a few adjustments with the bright-purple, permanent marker before beginning the procedure. I thought they were drawn too high because they set them above my actual eyebrow, but they explained to me that it would decrease the size of my forehead (HELL YEAH!!!!!!) and that I would want the pretty arch they were forming to be above the eyebrow bone to give it a nice shape. I trusted them. After they filled in my brows with the marker, I was able to begin the actual procedure.I wasn't put under, but they gave me a Valium to help me relax and calm my nerves. I wasn't at all nervous, surprisingly, but the anticipation of the numbing needles were much worst than the pain. I was so tense that my jaws hurt from clenching my teeth together so hard, and my entire body was shaking. I lost count after 12 needles in the back of my head (so I'm assuming there were probably around 20) in addition to about 10 more between both brows. Don't get me wrong -it stung, but it wasn't quite as bad as the anticipation of knowing I was getting needles stuck in my face. YIKES! haha After the numbing, I felt like there was a sack of potatoes sitting on my forehead. It was weird but painless.
Dr. Epstein then made the incision in the back of my head, which turned out to be MUCH bigger than I thought it would be. Don't get grossed out by the picture, but it's about 3 and 1/2 inches long. However, my hair completely covers it when it's down. The hair that was cut around it will grow back to hide it even more after it heals. The sutures (it's a running stitch) will dissolve in a couple of weeks, so I won't have to go get them taken out. This is by far the worst part now that the numbness has worn off. The pain pills help, but when I don't take them my entire head feels like hell. I have a low pain tolerance, so that doesn't help. It's not intolerable pain but definitely enough to make me uncomfortable or draw attention to the huge cut in the back of my head. Anyway, it only took him a couple of minutes to cut in the back, remove the strip of hair follicles (graphs), sew back up without me even knowing it, and ask me to lay my head back down. Very quick!Then, he began with the eyebrows. YAY -EYEBROWS!!!!! There were four nice ladies all under microscopes whose sole purpose was to dissect and cut the graphs while finding/saving all "useable" follicles. They had to find some "twos" (duh-2 hairs growing from 1 follicle) and even more "ones" and separate them. The doctor said that they don't normally like to use twos because they grow in different directions, but I had practically "no" eyebrows and required more of these graphs. The doctor used some type of pointed blade to cut/poke holes in the purple area where my brows will grow. He carefully formed the holes in different directions according to which way he wanted the hairs to grow in those areas. For instance, the hairs closer to my nose will grow straight up, and the ones further toward my ears will grow more slanted, etc. It didn't take him long to poke approximately 600 holes in my eyebrows for the hairs to be placed. His medical assistant then implanted the hairs individually in each side. The doc ordered & bought Amber & I lunch from a yummy cuisine place, so I got a little break. After eating, we proceeded. He came back in and poked more holes in my brows to fill in some spots. The med assistant then implanted more hairs (you get the point, I'm sure). I ended up with over 700 graphs between the two eyebrows. That's a freakin' lot! That just shows, however, how little eyebrows I actually had before. I wasn't exaggerating about my insecurity. No lie. The eyebrows don't hurt at all now -it just feels similar to what I would expect botox to feel like because I can't really raise or lower them because my forehead and brows are so tight.
Ok, so the procedure was scheduled for 3 hours but ended up taking 5. We were there from 7am until around 2:30pm, but it was more than worth it for them to really take their time & do a good job. I didn't care how long I had to sit in that chair to get a good result. I definitely get what I pay for there. The doctor even said that if I end up wanting them thicker or a touch up at all a year or so down the road, I can come back in with no additional charge because I have already paid for satisfaction, and he wants me to be satisfied. Again, a great great great doctor. Anyway, I left there looking like I stenciled eyebrows in with a brown magic marker, but it will get better. I am not allowed to touch or get my eyebrows wet at all because if I do, the hairs will shift and start to grow in crazy directions (completely messing up the work they did). The purple marker is still there along with blood. I can't wipe the blood off because that is what forms the scabs that are holding the hairs in place until the skin on the inside forms around the follicles to hold them in place. I can wash my hair, but I to tilt my head backwards and use a cup -being careful not to get my face wet. I got towelettes to wash my face around the brows.
NOTE: THIS IS NOT WHAT THEY WILL LOOK LIKE!!!!!!!!!
They won't be this wide/thick/brown/huge!
I know the photos look funny, but I want to share this entire experience with you guys because you are too far away to see me in person. I love the shape that they gave me, especially the arch that goes above my eyebrow bone. It will look so nice when I can put some pretty, shiny eyeshadow up in there like everyone else does! :) They are definitely higher than my normal brows, but when the ink & blood comes off and we can actually only see the eyebrow hair -it will look very nice. I'm certain of it, even though I look ridiculous now, haha. I'm not discouraged at all because I expected there to be an awkward, funny-looking, healing stage. I'm just glad that I get Monday off for President's Day! Yay for great timing! I'm not allowed to wipe this stuff off until Wednesday, but hopefully it will wear off a little by Tuesday when I have to go in to work. Honestly, though, I don't care much of what people think of me at work because I am already more confident -even though I look like a CLOWN at the moment! :) It should make for interesting conversations with my middle school kids, haha.
Amber & I did get to drive over to South Miami Beach before returning home yesterday evening, so I got to scatter some of my Angel Mother's ashes into the pretty, blue ocean. I can't miss a step. Anywhere beautiful is where my beautiful mother deserves to be. It was a great end to a great day!
Needless to say I will be taking it easy over the next couple of days. I will keep you all posted on my progress, and I can't wait to share the ending result. All I ask is that everyone be patient because it will take a couple of months to actually see what they are supposed to look like. No laughing, only encouragement allowed. I'm staying positive because this is truly a blessing to me.
Thank you, Dr. Jeffrey Epstein. Thank you, Friends. Thank you, Family. Thank you, God.
Love,
Missy
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