An eyedrop treatment for glaucoma appears to help eyelashes regrow, prompting speculation that the drug could be used to prevent baldness.
According to the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, the eyelashes of a 53-year-old woman who suffered from the hair loss condition alopecia grew back after she was treated with the drug latanoprost. An Oregon-based doctor had heard that a side-effect of latanoprost was hair regrowth. He treated the patient's glaucoma with the drug in the hope that it would also promote eyelash growth. Speaking to Reuters Health, Dr George Cioffi said that in two months the patient had a full set of eyelashes. A 1997 study in Seattle first hinted at the drug latanoprost's unusual property when it found that 43 patients reported that it increased the number, length, thickness and colour of their eyelashes.
