New Products Help Eyelash Growth!
New Products Help Eyelash Growth!
Remarkable advances have been made to improve our looks — including lasers for skin resurfacing and Botox to prevent wrinkles. Now there may be something to enhance eye lashes. New eyelash products may actually help grow lashes, and it all started as side-effects from common prescription drugs.
Eyelashes have become one of the hottest trends in cosmetics, the longer and thicker-the better.
Carrie Maher, Eyelash Extensions Client: “Today I’m getting eyelash extensions because I like the way they look.”
Eyelash extensions involve individual lashes glued one-by-one above the base of each lash. The cost: 0 dollars for the first session and fifty dollars every two weeks for a touch-up. Although the price is steep, business is booming.
Helen Woo, Aesthetician: “They look very, very natural, but besides that the eyes look bigger and the lashes look lots longer and it looks really beautiful.”
But instead of gluing on lashes – fascinating new research suggests we may be able to “grow” our own long lashes. Surprisingly, it all started with these three glaucoma drugs – called prostaglandin analogs. These new treatments for glaucoma have an added benefit.
Andrew Iwach, M.D., Ophthalmologist: “All three of these can make eyelashes grow in certain patients.”
Some doctors are even telling patients to put a drop of one of these glaucoma drugs on a cue tip and apply it to the base of their lashes to stimulate lash growth.
But San Francisco glaucoma specialist Dr. Andrew Iwach says these are drugs meant to be put into the eye and warns they have one very serious side-effect.
Andrew Iwach, M.D: “In some patients there can be a change in the color of the iris.”
That’s right, the iris color can actually darken or even change – especially in hazel eyes and the change is permanent.
It didn’t take long for marketers to come up with seemingly less risky eyelash products that are applied topically – like eyeliner. So far there are two different brands – one even lists an ingredient very close to a prostaglandin analog compound. The other boldly claims to grow lashes. they’re expensive at about 0 a tube, but they still cost less than 0 dollar eyelash extensions…”if” they work.
Pam Farrell, a Corte Madera skin care specialist, was skeptical so she used herself as a guinea pig.
Pam Farrell, Aesthetician: After about five weeks, I was really quite surprised, I noticed that when I used an eyelash curler that my lashes were extending beyond the silver bar in the eyelash curler. My lashes grew, I think about a quarter of an inch beyond the eyelash curler.”
One of her clients, Joanne Cooper, tried it on her short, thin lashes applying it along the base of her lashes each night.
Joanne Cooper, Eyelash Eyelash Enhancer User: “In about a month, my eyelashes were getting so long that they were hitting my glasses when I was wearing my glasses, so it works.
Kim Nguyen tried it on her very thin lashes.
Kim Nguyen, Eyelash Enhancer User: “After a good 6 weeks my lashes all really full and nice looking, you know – with a little mascara on – it’s perfect.”
Heather Cooper tried the lash grower after she spontaneously lost half her lashes.
Heather Cooper Eyelash Enhancer User: I woke up and I had missing eyelashes exactly on the same a whole patch on both eyes.
Almost immediately after using the lash product, she says her lashes grew back longer than before. Amazing claims that may be true, but so far there is no real research to show safety or efficacy of either of these products so check with your eye doctor first.