Long, Thick, Lush Eyelashes… What are Your Options?

Women desire and strive to enhance their facial features with long, thick, and dark eyelashes. Perfectly shaped eyebrows and long, thick eyelashes help to define your facial feature and are often considered a sign of beauty. “Eyelashes that are long and thick are considered a sign of beauty in many cultures and often have a positive psychological effect on women.¹” For thousands of years, women have employed a number of techniques to enhance their eyelashes. The market and demand for eye makeup is huge! The Global eye makeup market was valued at USD 15.60 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 24.49 billion by 2029²!

What You Should Know About Eyelash Health

These options typically work for most women but what should you do if your eyelashes are thinning and falling out? While eyelashes are often thought of as only a cosmetic enhancement, they are much more. Your eyelashes are needed to protect your eyes from debris that can obstruct vision or cause infection or injury. Eyelashes typically grow, fall out and replace themselves in a cycle similar to your hair growth. Your eyelash growth cycle is every 6 to 10 weeks.
While it is normal for you to lose between one and five eyelashes each day, for some people the loss of their eyelashes is more due to leaving eye makeup on too long or putting stress on your natural lashes when removing lash extensions or eyelash curlers.

For other men and women who are experiencing rapid lash loss, this condition is called madarosis and is symptomatic of an underlying health problem in the eye or in another part of the body that should be discussed with a dermatologist.³

What Options Are Available To Enhance Eyelashes?

Numerous options are available to help improve the appearance of eyelashes. The top 3 are as follows:

1. The most popular and easy to use is mascara as it will temporarily darken, lengthen, and thicken eyelashes. Hands down mascara is the number one makeup item that is a must-have. There is a dizzying array of mascaras to select from including, volumizing, waterproof, fiber, natural, clump-free, and many other types. One of the popular brands is NovaLash, a water-soluble formula is rich in vitamins A, E, and C to condition and nourish your lashes.
2. The second most popular cosmetic option is artificial eyelashes that are adhered to the dermal margin of the eyelid or individual eyelashes are applied. If you are tired of applying false eyelashes and want to have eyelashes like Hollywood stars have, lash extensions may be the answer. Lash extensions are semi-permanent synthetic, faux mink or silk fibers which are applied strand by strand to your natural lashes.
3. The third option is to use an eyelash growth preparation called Latisse® which is an FDA-approved prescription medication that is applied to the eyelashes that gives users longer, fuller, and darker eyelashes after eight weeks, with full results in 16 weeks.⁴ There is also a generic version, Biamatoprost which is sold over the counter by Sandoz.⁵ Biamatoprost contains the same FDA-approved active ingredient found in Latisse®.

There are numerous options that can be used to improve the appearance of eyelashes that can fit your individual taste and budget.

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¹Synnott A. The beauty mystique. Facial Plast Surg. 2006;22:163–174. doi: 10.1055/s-2006-950173.

²https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-eye-makeup-market

³https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyelashes-falling-out

⁴https://www.latisse.com/

⁵https://www.us.sandoz.com/news/media-releases/sandoz-launches-generic-version-latisse