London, March 5 (IANS) Fuller eyebrows are back in fashion. An increasing number of women are opting for hair transplant surgery to get the bushy-browed look.

The likes of Keira Knightley and Emma Watson have brought back the fad of fuller brows leaving behind once popular pencil thin eyebrows.

According to hair transplant surgeon Bessam Farjo, from the Institute of Trichologists, the number of women seeking eyebrow transplants has already doubled compared to last year. The operation, which works in much the same way as a conventional hair transplant, costs 3,500 pounds.

'Many individuals don't realise the permanent damage that over-plucking can do, and have found that they've been unable to regrow their eyebrow hair,' dailymail.co.uk quoted Farjo, who runs a clinic in London, as saying.

'Hair transplant surgery is the only way to restore eyebrows permanently and it's also the solution for those who naturally have very fair or sparse brows,' he added.

In the 1980s, strong brows were fashionable, shown off by celebrities such as Brooke Shields and Madonna.

But the 1990s brought with it the fashion of much finer eyebrows, with many plucking or even waxing theirs away.