Eyes: A Window to Your Essence

We’ve all heard that eyes are the windows to the soul. True or not? I certainly don’t know; no one does. What I do know is that your eyes are beautiful. When you smile, your eyes smile. When people look at you, they see whether your eyes are happy, worried, sleepy or bored. They tell whether you are listening or looking around. They contribute to our beauty. All of us speak with our eyes.

But your eye isn’t just one thing. Eyes are the sum of their parts: eyesight, their color, the clarity of the whites, their shape and slant … every part is important. The appearance of the eyes is central to the perception of beauty and a variety of products are utilized to accentuate them.

But it’s not just the eye itself that speaks to others. From an aesthetics viewpoint, you’re probably well aware, there is a renewed interest in eyebrows. Products for eyebrows have expanded exponentially. And a few years ago the gossip columns exploded with the news that taking into account private planes and staffing, Oprah spent up to $75,000 annually just to get her eyebrows done at her favorite place in Beverly Hills. Likewise, lining your eyes with eyeliner has given way to having them tattooed permanently to avoid the daily grind of putting on makeup.

Like eyebrows and eyeliner, your eyelashes are an important aspect of the overall aesthetic of your eyes and what they say to others. Some of us have great lashes and only require a brush with mascara to help enhance them. But, for others, sparse or inadequate lashes are actually a medically treatable condition. That’s why at my office I offer Latisse, the only FDA-approved agent for treating this condition, called hypotrichiasis.

Here are the medical facts about the benefits of Latisse, though you can skip the science and know that these treatments work based on my own experience using this product on patients over the last several years.

A study was conducted of 585 randomly selected adult patients at 16 participating study centers who used Latisse for at least 12 months. The study determined medication usage and evaluated patient satisfaction with treatment and found that the majority of participants were currently using Latisse, and the mean time of treatment was longer than 1.5 years. While 25% of participants were applying Latisse daily, approximately 75% had switched to a “maintenance regimen” of applying the product only three times per week.

Results indicated that participants were very satisfied or satisfied with long-term Latisse treatment (92.5%) and were very satisfied or satisfied with the length (78.0%) and fullness (68.7%) of their eyelashes. These findings confirm the high degree of satisfaction reported in the original Latisse clinical trials, and indicate that satisfaction remains high, even when Latisse is not used daily.

I recommend daily treatment for about 4 months to attain optimal results, reduced to three times per week to maintain enhanced eyelash appearance with long-term treatment. The treatments are safe and the only side effects were mild and reversible.

As an ophthalmic surgeon and great advocate of Latisse, our staff would love to talk to you about your eyes. Our ophthalmology department can change their color with contacts, recommend a great eyebrow waxer (Nina is awesome), and make your lashes dramatic. As an added bonus, Latisse has been found to also be effective in growing brows (as long as they have not been over-plucked.) Let’s make your eyes part of your beauty regime in the coming year!