LONDON, Aug 9, 2009 (AFP) - One of Britain's biggest comestic surgery clinics claimed Sunday 9 August to have carried out the nation's first-ever eyelash transplant on a 19-year-old with a hair-pulling disorder.

Photo: AFP

During a four-hour procedure -- pioneered in the United States -- that cost 3,500 pounds (5,850 dollars, 4,100 euros), hairs were removed from the back of the teenager's head, then replanted into cuts in the eyelid.

The lashes should gradually thicken between four and six months after surgery, said Transform, a network of 22 cosmetic surgery clinics that also claims to be Britain's leading provider of breast surgery.

"The eyelash transplant procedure is a very safe, cost-effective and pain-free treatment that can have life-changing effects," said Shami Thomas of Transform, which only identified the patient as being from the Manchester area.

The teenager suffered from trichotillomania, or trich, an impulsive control disorder in which sufferers compulsively yank hair off their bodies, leaving bald patches.