On my lifelong quest for amazing lashes, I decided to enlist the help of Latisse. I’ve tried just about everything… I’ve tried the mascara that claims to make your lashes grow longer, the Beauty Society Enormous Lash serum and even eyelash extensions.
The mascara didn’t work, the Enormous Lash kind of worked, and the eyelash extensions definitely worked (you just had to be really careful with them, and the application/upkeep was a too time-consuming for me to stay committed). I had tried Latisse before – I was given a small sample to try by a client – but stopped after a week because I got scared by the “possible brown spot side effect” warning.
But I happened to be talking with one of my other clients – Face and Eye Aesthetic Center – and Latisse came up. I mentioned that I was surprised that Claire Danes replaced Brooke Shields as the spokeswoman for Latisse because she has blue eyes. The doc in the meeting, Dr. Nerad, explained that the brown spot side effect is actually really uncommon and it occurs when people use it for a super extended amount of time.
Apparently Latisse was discovered as a lash-growing wonder-drug from its days as a prescription for glaucoma patients. They started to come back with super long lashes on the eye that was being treated. So, researchers looked into it, found that it did have this randomly desirable side effect, and rebranded it as “Latisse.”
Long story short – when patients use it for glaucoma, which can be for years or even decades, they’re applying this product on the same spot every single day. Some people get some pigmentation after a while, but the doc said it’s a very long while and I truly most likely have nothing to worry about … unless I get super addicted to Latisse and decide to use it for the rest of my life. Which actually might happen because I’m loving it.
I’m about a month in and this week is when I started to see some results. I had a bit of a rough start – dealt with a little dry eye in the beginning, but I think that was also due to winter finally kicking in and us using the heat in our house more. I did see on this site (which I really like because it’s an objective site that gives you the low-down on any eye-related product/procedure) that about 4% experience some dry eye when using Latisse, so maybe I’m part of that group… if so, I’m playing the lottery STAT! haha!
The process is pretty simple to get started on Latisse. I like going to Face & Eye, not only because I know and trust them, but also because they have Dr. Nerad there who is an ophthalmologist. You can get a prescription for Latisse from just about any doctor (most plastic surgeons … actually, my dentist was just telling me he’s thinking about offering Botox and Latisse too! Crazy!). But there’s something about getting it from an doctor who specializes in eyes. It was much more comforting to start this process through him. He even did an eye exam to make sure my eyes were in good health prior to letting me start Latisse!
I will be posting before and afters in about a month once you can see some more dramatic results! But for now, things are going well! I should be looking like Claire Danes and Brooke Shields in no time! haha!
