The drug, which in its
earliest, unsexiest incarnation existed solely as a glaucoma
treatment, is best known as the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration-approved wonder drug that can grow and darken your
poor listless lashes . Now, it's being tested for a new use: growing
hair on your dome.
No one tracks just how many doctors across the country are using
Latisse off-label to target hair loss, but Dr. Alan Bauman, a Boca
Raton, Fla., board-certified hair restoration physician has been
using the drug this way for about three years, beginning around the
time the FDA approved it for eyelash growth in December 2008. He
describes his own personal "eureka!" moment:
"Patients who were using it for eyelashes sometimes have eyebrow
problems, so it’s a short hop to the eyebrows," he explains. "So, of
course, if it was working there, too — from the eyebrows, it’s just
a short hop to the hairline."
Allergen, the health care company that manufactures the eyelash
enhancer, is currently testing the safety and efficacy of a new
formulation of bimatoprost, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in
Latisse, in growing hair on the scalp, says Heather Katt, a
spokeswoman for Allergen.
The appeal of using Latisse for hair loss is its ease and
convenience, as it seems to only require one drop to the affected
area once a day; minoxidil (better known as Rogaine) requires two,
and Propecia requires daily pill taking.
Bauman says he sees about 1,000 new hair loss patients each year,
about 700 of which end up on some kind of medical management — and
so far, he's only used Latisse on a "couple dozen" patients, usually
those who are allergic to the usual treatments, which is what
happened to 70-year-old Rhoda Kelly.
Kelly's hair was thinning a bit on the back of her head, so she
tried Rogaine, but suffered a bad allergic reaction. So Bauman
suggested she try Latisse.
Kelly started to see noticeable results about four months after
starting Latisse, as her thin hair started to grow in thicker. Now,
14 months later, Kelly says, "My hair is in much better condition —
it looks healthy." She's still using Latisse, combined with "a slew
of other vitamins," including a pharmaceutical-grade biotin and a
marine-derived protein-polysaccaride, and a protective sun hat.
Kelly, by the way, has strawberry blonde hair, which has gotten
lighter after years in the Florida sun. It hasn't darkened after
using Latisse. When Latisse first hit the market, much ado was made
about one of the more surprising risks: In rare cases, it could
cause light eyes to turn brown. Bauman says he hasn't seen any
evidence that this applies to hair, or the skin on the scalp, for
that matter.
The major drawback: It's expensive. Each 2-ounce bottle costs $100
to $150 — and some patients will run through two or three bottles a
month, Bauman says.
"Expense is a big disadvantage, but perhaps the biggest problem with
this technology is that it does not restart hair growth for hair
that has stopped growing," points out Perry Romanowski, a cosmetic
chemist and one of the brains behind the popular beauty blog, The
Beauty Brains. "If it works on scalp hair at all (and this hasn't
been definitively proven), it will only be able to thicken existing,
working hair follicles."
Basically: If you already have a bald patch, Latisse can't help you
there.
"Since what people really want from this product is something that
will bring their hair back, I suspect that they will be disappointed
because that will not happen," Romanowski says. "Are a few thicker,
fuller strands going to be worth the expense? Perhaps to some
people."
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