Latisse for eyebrows? Here’s everything you need to know!
We easily take eyebrows for granted – until they’re gone. Then you suddenly realize how important they are to your looks and your relationships.
Your eyebrows are a critical facial feature. They sculpt your face. They’re also a key player in communicating with others.
Don’t believe us? The next time you have a face-to-face conversation, take a moment to become aware of how much information you receive through the other person’s eyebrows. Information about how they feel or what they think. Believe us now?
If you’ve got a routine down with your brows, then you probably don’t even notice them unless they’ve gotten out of control or unwieldy. Maybe you need to pluck them, wax them, or snip them back.
The beautiful thing about eyebrows is that if you make a mistake while tweezing or waxing, you can always use a little pencil filler until they grow back in.
But what happens if your eyebrows don’t grow back in?
What happens if your hair growth slows down? When it comes to removing hair, the options abound. When it comes to regrowing hair, that’s another story.
Are you going to have to draw your eyebrows on forever? Up until recently, there hasn’t been much in the way of treatments to boost eyebrow growth. Today, however, a treatment that you are probably already familiar with is a highly effective treatment option. It’s called Latisse.
What is Latisse?
The chief component in Latisse is called Bimatoprost. Ophthalmologists traditionally prescribed this solution as eye drops to treat glaucoma. Latisse is now available via a doctor’s prescription for use as an eyelash growth treatment.
The Latisse solution is contained in a small bottle that looks like an eye drop container. Rather than dropping the solution into your eyes, you use a special brush to smear the Latisse onto your upper eyelid. You do this on a daily basis and it promotes eyelash growth.
For eyebrows, you use the brush to smear Latisse onto your eyebrow arches to promote eyebrow hair growth.
How Does Latisse Work?
As Bimatoprost became more widely prescribed to treat glaucoma, doctors noticed that it had an unexpected side effect. Patients who used eye drops that contained Bimatoprost experienced eyelash growth. As providers realized that Bimatoprost encouraged the growth of thicker, longer lashes, they began to prescribe it off-label as a treatment for eyebrow growth. In 2008, the FDA approved Latisse as a treatment for eyelashes.
Researchers still haven’t figured out exactly how Latisse works. One theory is that Latisse works in two ways:
- It keeps hair follicles in the growth phase.
- It stimulates hair follicles to move from the resting phase to the growth phase.
The good news is that whatever Latisse does to enhance eyelash growth also works for eyebrows!
Using Latisse for Eyebrows
Maybe you haven’t heard about Latisse as a treatment for over-plucked or under-grown eyebrows. Over the years, it has become more and more popular in medical and cosmetological circles.
The reason you haven’t heard a lot about it is because Latisse treatment for eyebrows has not yet been FDA-approved. Although Latisse is not FDA -approved to treat eyebrows, using Latisse for this purpose has been proven to be safe and effective by a number of clinical trials and studies.
For example, a 2016 study kept track of 357 men and women with eyebrow hair loss for seven months. During this time some of the participants received a placebo while others received Latisse to use on their eyebrows. Regardless of which they used, participants were asked to apply it one or two times a day. At the end of the study, participants who used Latisse had more significant eyebrow growth than those who used the placebo. The effects became most noticeable after the second month of application.
Dermatology Online Journal published a small 2014 study that studied eyebrow growth in 10 female participants using Latisse. In this study, the researchers did not use a placebo. Instead, they asked the women to use Latisse daily on one eyebrow for six weeks. The other eyebrow was left untreated. At the end of the study, researchers found that all 10 participants experienced eyebrow hair growth on the Latisse side with no adverse effects.
A review of six studies published in the journal Drug Design, Development, and Therapy concluded that Latisse used for eyebrows was a “safe, effective, and well-tolerated option” to treat eyebrow hair loss.
What Impacts Effectiveness?
Although Latisse can stimulate eyebrow hair growth, results vary. For best results, you need to be diligent about how, and how often, you apply Latisse. You must also keep using it to maintain results.
Another factor that affects how well Latisse works is the underlying cause of your eyebrow hair loss.
When used alone, Latisse is a great way to bring back fuller, thicker brows. To maximize the effects of the treatment and the health and thickness of your brows, use a brow conditioner. Brow conditioners add supplementary nutrients to your eyebrows that strengthen your eyebrow hair.
Latisse for Eyebrows: Safety Concerns
Every medication or procedure has a list of side effects. One of the significant side effects of Latisse is that it darkens hair. If you have lighter eyebrows, you should be aware that Latisse could make them much darker.
Only 3-4% of people who’ve used Latisse have reported adverse side effects. The ones linked to Latisse treatment for eyelashes are:
- Itchy eyes
- Darker skin
- Red or noticeable blood vessels in the eyes
In a 2016 study published in Dermatological Surgery, the most common side effects of Latisse treatment for eyebrows were:
- Itchy skin
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- Sinusitis
- Runny nose
Are you ready to raise some eyebrows?
If you’ve over-plucked your eyebrows or are experiencing the regular thinning of brows that come with ageing, Latisse can encourage hair regrowth and health. Latisse requires a prescription and is best used under a doctor’s supervision.
Contact us today for a consultation! If Latisse is suitable for your situation, we’ll get you set up with a prescription and a treatment plan. With a little patience and a whole lot of persistence, your brows can be thick and full again!
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