I have a dream…

A nightmare, that is.

I dreamt that I had eyelashes so long that I could not handle them anymore. I was shocked at my state of follicle abundance and was trying to find a pair of scissors to trim them. But first, a comb to untangle the mess.

What a hair-raising sleep!!!

I guess it must be my subconscious on overdrive.

The bizarre beauty treatment of this week is: EYELASH TRANSPLANT!

Fret not if you have stumpy lashes.
No longer do you have to waste time (sleep time that can be used to REALLY make you look beautiful) gluing fake eyelashes to your lids.
Eyelash extensions need so much monthly maintenance, and you hate the thought of your bank account bleeding away indefinitely to keep up your expensive indulgence.

Enter eyelash transplants.

Using procedures pioneered by the hair loss industry for balding men, surgeons are using "plug and sew" techniques to give women long, sweeping lashes once achieved only by glued on extensions and thick lashings of mascara..

And just like human hair -- for that is the origin -- these lashes just keep on growing.
"Longer, thicker lashes are a ubiquitous sign of beauty. Eyelash transplantation does for the eyes what breast augmentation does for the figure," said Dr Alan Bauman, a leading proponent of eyelash transplants.

"This is a brand new procedure for the general public (and) it is going to explode," Bauman told Reuters during what was billed as the world's first live eyelash surgery workshop for about 40 surgeons from around the world.

Under the procedure, a small incision is made at the back of the scalp to remove 30 or 40 hair follicles which are carefully sewn one by one onto the patient's eyelids. Only light sedation and local anesthetics are used and the cost is around $3,000 an eye.

The technique was first confined to patients who had suffered burns or congenital malformations of the eye. But word spread and about 80 percent are now done for cosmetic reasons.

For many women, eyelash surgery is simply an extra item on the vast nip tuck menu that has lost its old taboos.

More than 10 million cosmetic procedures -- from tummy tucks to botox -- were performed in the United States in 2005, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The figure represents a 38 percent increase over the year 2000.

Erica Lynn, 27, a Florida model with long auburn hair, breast implants and a nose job, had eyelash transplants three years ago because she was fed up with wearing extensions on her sandy-colored lashes.

"When I found out about it, I just had to have it done. Everyone I mention it to wants it. I think eyelashes are awesome. You can never have enough of them," Lynn said.

Bauman, who practices in Florida, does about three or four a month. Dr. Sara Wasserbauer, a Northern California hair restoration surgeon, says she has been inundated by requests.

"I have been getting a ton of eyelash inquiries ... If I had $10 dollars for every consultation, I'd be a rich woman."

The surgery is not for everyone. The transplanted eyelashes grow just like head hair and need to be trimmed regularly and sometimes curled. Very curly head hair makes for eyelashes with too much kink.

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Together people, 1 2 3, Ewww…

So this is the cause of my scary dream last night! I just cannot imagine giving my lashes their monthly ‘haircut’. Or looking like this:

Sometimes, I wonder, when will the pursuit for physical perfection ever stop? Is it a simple case of pure human vanity? Is it a continuous effort to increase our self esteem or is it just an inability to live with our Real selves?

The story above is taken from Yahoo! News.
For the full story and video clip, click on this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061024/hl_nm/life_eyelashes_dc