Eyelash transplants are gaining popularity with people who have either lost their eyelashes or want longer, thicker lashes. Eyelashes can be absent for a variety of reasons - trauma, burns, infections, surgery, medical conditions, trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling), eyelid malignancies and reactions to medications or radiation.

The procedure of hair transplant is used to give fuller eyelashes. Eyelash transplantation involves harvesting hair from the scalp and individual implantation of the hair follicles into the eyelid margin. Although this procedure is not new - with scientific publications documenting it as early as the 1970s - it is not risk free.

Oculoplastic surgeons are concerned about the risks associated with eyelash transplants. Surgical augmentation of eyelashes can lead to trichiasis (inward-growing lashes) and vision-threatening complications.
 
Natural eyelashes grow with an outward curvature and to a controlled length so as not to cause irritation or damage. Whereas, implanted eyelashes do not grow in a controlled fashion and have to be trimmed regularly. The lashes can become misdirected causing ocular irritation, infection and corneal scarring.

With ocular irritation and infections secondary to transplanted eyelashes cases, the only definitive treatment would be removal of the transplanted eyelashes, which can cause scarring of the eyelids. So, people who want to go in for eyelash transplants have to think whether they are ready to take on the risks.