It’s a disturbing experience to look in the mirror one day and realize that your eyelashes are thinner, shorter, and sometimes even lighter than before. If thinning eyelashes is troubling you, there’s something you can do about it.
Why Do We Lose Eyelashes?
Eyelashes are something most people take for granted. Long, lush lashes are considered a sign of beauty in our world, but eyelashes also play an important part protecting your eyes. Like whiskers on animals, eyelashes are sensitive and provide your body with a warning when an object is near the eye, causing it to reflexively close. Eyelashes also shield eyes from sunshine, wind, dust and other external irritants.
According to the National Institutes of Health, eyelash hypotrichosis, the medical term for an inadequate amount of eyelashes, can be caused by a variety of internal and external factors:
Causes of eyelashes hypotrichosis are many, including hereditary, aging, chemotherapy, other medical treatment and unknown causes. Physical trauma involving the face, eye surgery and trichotillomania may also cause thin or absent lash growth.
Can They Be Grown Back?
Eyelashes can be regrown. One option for growing longer, fuller, darker lashes is to try a product like LATISSE® (bimatoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.03%, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for hypotrichosis that is prescribed by a physician. LATISSE is applied to the top lashes daily after makeup and contacts have been removed. A clinical study run by LATISSE documented the experience of 278 patients at 16 sites across the country. At the end of the 16-week treatment period, results showed that LATISSE was effective for a majority of participants.