New Face of Plastic Surgery: Eyebrows, Belly Buttons and Feet

Sept. 1, 2007 — -- From head to toe, women everywhere are seeking the hottest, newest trends in cosmetic surgery.

People who feel they have cosmetic flaws that they thought they couldn't change are now realizing that plastic surgeons can help them, plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Rose said.

These days, it seems getting the perfect eyebrows means going under the knife. Eyebrow transplantation surgery, a simple in-office procedure that adds volume to your brows, is all the rage.

Debra Prince, a recent patient said, "as a child, I had fairly thick eyebrows, and of course as most girls did, I plucked them too much. But then later in life, I developed a thyroid condition and I noticed that my eyebrows got significantly thinner."

Hair is taken from a "donor" area at the back of Debra's scalp, divided into individual hair follicles and then artistically placed in the eyebrow area.

"After the transplant, it takes around three months for the follicle to settle in, realize it has its new home and then start to grow," explained Dr. Ken Wahenik, the plastic surgeon who performed the surgery.

Kelly Becker received eyebrow transplants one year ago, but for an entirely different reason. She went from bare to bold.

"It's given me a lot more self confidence. I think before I kind of hid behind these brows that I would draw on, afraid for people to see me without them," Becker said.

From an Outie to an Innie

Bikini babes everywhere have long lamented the plight of the perfect belly button: innie or outtie? Even celebrities like Kelly Ripa, whose outtie has been airbrushed to look like an innie many times, have joked about having the surgery.

Now, that surgery is a perfectly feasible reality called "umbilicoplasty."

It can be easily explained as transforming an outie belly button into an innie belly button," Dr. Rose said.

Alyssa Jaranko's belly button inverted after having children. A fitness instructor and mother of three, she knew that umbilicoplasty was right for her. "All the exercise I could do in the world, was not gonna fix this skin," she said.

"From having the children inside of her abdomen, they caused hernias to happen," giving her an outie, Rose said.

And now, with her innie belly button restored, Alyssa said she feels more confident about her body, "the fact that I can now wear a bikini again is exciting. It's back to a normal belly button as if somebody who never had kids."

And finally, from eyebrows to toes, if you're unhappy with your tootsies, you're not the only one. Fashionable, high-heeled shoes have women running to the operating table. Podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zong said he performs between 30 and 40 cosmetic toe surgeries a month. He performs everything from toe-straightening and shortening to even, a pinky-toe tuck, where fat is taken out of the toe to make it more narrow.

For Christine Fortis, she says she no longer has to suffer from compromised style.

"I spent my entire life feeling very self conscience about my feet, never feeling comfortable to wear open-toed shoes," she said. "So having the surgery done, is enabling me now, to fit more comfortably and have a greater selection of nice shoes in my closet."