How Can I Get Fuller Eyelashes?

Long, luxurious lashes are a hallmark of beauty. They add depth and dimension to the face and accentuate the eyes. But how far are you willing to go to get fuller eyelashes? If gluing false lashes to your eyelids every morning sounds like torture, there are simpler alternatives to help you get the lashes you’ve always wanted — and ones that you grow yourself.

Before getting into the secret to fuller eyelashes, it’s important to know what happens to your lashes and why it’s so important to include your lashes in your daily beauty routine, morning and night.

What happens to eyelashes?

When you were younger, you may have been able to get away with a couple strokes of mascara to make your lashes pop. But now, even after several applications, mascara doesn’t seem to work quite like it used to. It’s not your imagination — your lashes may not be quite what they used to be. Aging and wear and tear are the likely culprits in your thinning lashes.

As with many other changes you’re experiencing, hormones may be partly to blame for your thinning lashes. A decrease in hormone levels slows down hair growth, including the growth of your eyelashes, and this slowdown may cause your lashes to thin out.

Not properly caring for your eyes and lashes can also affect the eyelashes’ health and length. Many women skip washing their face at night because they’re too tired or they want to save time reapplying in the morning. But keeping your makeup on while you sleep, especially mascara, can cause your eyelashes to dry out and break.

Rubbing your eyes can also be partly to blame for thinner, shorter lashes. This type of constant irritation may cause them to break or fall out.

Tips for keeping your lashes healthy

If you want fuller lashes, the first step is to take good care of them:

1. Don’t rub your eyes or tug on your lashes.
2. When washing your face, gently wash with soap and water around the eyes.
3. Use an eyelash curler with a soft tip that doesn’t bend or tug on the lash. This minimizes breakage and incidental lash pullouts.
4. Get a new tube of mascara every three months to reduce your risk of eye infection.
5. Use a gentle eye makeup remover to clean your eyes and remove mascara every night. Lightly dab the makeup off with a cotton swab dipped in your eye makeup remover.

LatisseⓇ for fuller lashes

If you’ve been taking good care of your lashes and they’re still not where you want them to be, it might be time to talk to Dr. Blanchar about Latisse. Latisse is an FDA-approved prescription medication that actually promotes eyelash growth.

The active ingredient in Latisse, bimatoprost, works in two ways to make your lashes both fuller and longer. First, it increases the number of hair follicles in your eyelid during the lash growth phase to increase the number of lashes. Second, it increases eyelash growing time, making them longer.

Latisse was discovered accidentally. The active ingredient is also used to reduce eye pressure in people with glaucoma. Doctors noticed that people taking the medication for glaucoma also experienced thicker, longer lashes, which prompted its alternative use as a cosmetic medication. It was initially approved by the FDA for growing eyelashes in 2008.

When using Latisse, it’s recommended that you apply the serum to the roots of clean upper lashes every night. After about two months of regular use, you’ll start to notice fuller, thicker lashes. The effects may last up to four months; if you stop using Latisse, your lashes thin out.

Latisse is considered a very safe medication; however, you should only use it under the direction of a skilled physician like Dr. Blanchar.