Melbourne, August 10 : Britain's first-ever eyelash transplant has been performed on a 19-year-old with a hair-pulling disorder.

The procedure took four hours to complete, during which time hairs were removed from the back of the teenager's head, and then replanted into cuts in the eyelid.

Expert from Transform, a network of 22 cosmetic surgery clinics that also claims to be Britain''''s leading provider of breast surgery, are behind the procedure, pioneered in the US.

They say that the lashes should gradually thicken between four and six months after surgery.

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

The teenager suffered from trichotillomania, known as trich in short, an impulsive control disorder in which sufferers compulsively yank hair off their bodies, leaving bald patches. (ANI)