Safety of Eyelash Enhancers

Even back to the days of Cleopatra, long, dark eyelashes have been considered a mark of femininity and beauty. As with other areas of personal appearance and image, people have been seeking the ultimate means for enhancing their natural eyelashes for generations. Presently, there are two very different types of modern eyelash enhancers: retail cosmetic products and prescription treatments.

1. Retail Cosmetic (Temporary/Daily) Eyelash Enhancers

The retail cosmetic eyelash enhancer is actually a very fine, almost microscopic cloth fiber in liquid or powder form that is applied as a base coat to regular mascara. As the fiber is applied using a standard mascara wand, it either adheres to the lashes directly (the liquid form) or holds to the lash, utilizing the topcoat of regular mascara as the adhesive. Generally white in color, this simple base coat to a makeup regimen is available to anyone in stores that sell cosmetics, inexpensive (about $10 for a few months' supply), easy to apply, and washes off with cosmetic remover or standard facial cleanser.

The downside of using the makeup form of eyelash enhancers is that the superfine white fibers do flake into the eye during and after application, as well as during general wear (after the mascara has been applied as a top coat). The cosmetic quickly and easily adheres to contact lenses and can be difficult to remove without tearing or stretching a lens. Those who wear extended wear contact lenses (without nightly removal) are at a higher risk for infection and irritation due to any such residue.

For eyeglasses wearers, the noticeable addition to the length of the eyelashes may result in scraping of the lashes along the inside of the glasses lenses during each blink of the eyes. As a minimum, this brushing of the lashes on the lenses is aggravating. At its worst, it adds residue and smears to the inside of the lenses with each blink, even scratching lenses that are not scratch resistant on the inner side.

2. Semi-Permanent Prescription Eyelash Enhancers

Prescription eyelash enhancers were discovered by accident. In 2001, the Food and Drug Administration approved bimatoprost (prostaglandin) eye drops for use in treatment of glaucoma. When prescribed patients routinely used the eye drops, their eyelashes became markedly longer, darker, and more lush as treatment progressed. As a result of this accidental discovery of the desirable side effect, the FDA approved a version of bimatoprost for specific use in eyelash enhancement in 2008. Since that time, the prescription eyelash enhancer has been heavily marketed throughout the media for making eyelashes more beautiful, youthfully thick, and longer.

In a sort of eyeliner form, the drug is applied each night through use of sterile applicators. After removing contact lenses and washing all cosmetics from the face, the patient simply dabs the bimatoprost along the lash line on the upper eyelid. Through natural blinking and as the eyes are closed during sleep, the drug spreads to the lower lash line.

Results are generally seen within two months. Eyelash thickness is said to increase by a whopping 106 percent, with length increasing by 25 percent and darkness by 18 percent. For patients with very sparse eyelashes, such increases can mean vastly improved self-confidence.

The drawbacks are that each nightly application costs the patient roughly $4, to a monthly total of about $120. After three or four months, the eye doctor may decrease the dosage to a maintenance level of once every two nights, which then decreases the cost to about $60 per month. So it is not an inexpensive regimen for the average patient. Also, as the effects are not permanent without continuous usage of the bimatoprost, if the patient stops applying the eyelash enhancer, their eyelashes will return to the pre-therapy state within several weeks.

Beyond the financial drawback and the lack of permanence, prescription eyelash enhancers do have other risks. The weight of these risks in personal decision-making with a physician will vary from patient to patient. As eyelash improvement is generally a vanity situation (to varying degrees), one must consider whether personal appearance is worth the following potential side effects:

• allergy and/or itching as a result of application
• dry eyes
• eyelid skin darkening
• redness of the eye
• permanent brown pigmentation of the iris (visible change to eye color)

Patients who should either abstain from use of prescription eyelash enhancers or use them only with the informed supervision of their doctor are:

• people with a history of eye problems (such as uveitis and conjunctivitis)
• pregnant or nursing women
• patients at risk for macular edema
• sufferers of severe allergies or skin infections of the eyelids
• patients using IOP-lowering medications for ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma

As contacts must be out of the eye prior to the nightly treatment with prescription eyelash enhancers, contact lens wearers may find the hassle less than worthwhile. Some physicians even claim that using eyelash enhancers may cause retinal detachment, which can lead to blindness.

As the FDA just approved eyelash enhancers in 2008, an informed patient may wish to allow more time for longer-term study results prior to starting the enhancement treatment.

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