As we age, eyelash follicles can slow or stop producing new lashes altogether. Aside from age, there are other reasons you may be experiencing thinning lashes. These may include: Scrubbing or rubbing eyelashes too hard when removing makeup or cleansing the face.
As an adult, you might be less excited to notice your eyelashes falling out. It's natural to wonder if they will ever grow back. But, just like hair on your head, eyelashes grow, fall out, and regrow again in a natural cycle.
Your lashes grow through your eye follicles. The older we get, the slower our growth process becomes. This is how your lashes start to thin out. If you're reading this and saying to yourself how you're not old enough to have thinning lashes, there are a few other reasons your eyelashes could be thinning.
The hair follicles on eyelids naturally go through a life cycle, emerging from the roots to full extension and then shedding. Eyelashes go through three different phases as they grow: Anagen phase: This phase usually lasts between 4 and 10 weeks. Catagen phase: Lashes reach their maximum length and growth stops.
Aging and menopause are considered to be one of the leading factors that cause shorter eyelashes due to certain hormonal imbalances that affect the growth cycle of hair follicles. Other factors include stress, lack of sleep, and allergic reactions to medications.
Treatment to thicken your eyelashes
Latisse is a prescription drug that's fully FDA-approved to treat thinning eyelashes. It stimulates your body to grow thicker, longer, and darker eyelashes. It's an ophthalmic solution with the same chemical as a glaucoma drug.
Vaseline is an occlusive moisturizer that can be used effectively on dry skin and eyelashes. It can't make eyelashes grow faster or longer, but it can moisturize them, making them look fuller and lusher. It isn't right for everyone, though.
Common reasons include both an overactive and underactive thyroid gland, as well as other hormonal changes. Additionally, alopecia areata—an immune disorder in which cells attack the hair follicles—causes lashes to fall out. This condition can affect eyelashes, brows, the scalp and other places where hair grows.
Loss of eyelashes may occur with several conditions, including a variety of skin diseases, drug side effects, endocrine disorders, metabolic abnormalities, traumatic insults, inflammations, toxins, psychiatric disorders, and systemic disease.
Sebaceous glands attached to these follicles produce less sebum, causing our lashes to become dry and brittle. At the same time, our eyelashes and the skin around them don't hold in as much moisture. Menopause-related hormone changes make our follicles weaker, slowing or stopping lash growth completely.
The lifespan of an average eyelash is three to five months, opposed to the rest of your hair which lasts two to four years. Eyelashes are the thickest hair on the human body.
The only proven remedy to lengthen your eyelashes is to carefully use medication. Bimatoprost (Latisse) is the only medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that makes eyelashes grow longer and thicker.
Why won't my eyelashes grow back? If you damage your lash follicles they will be unable to grow new eyelashes. This can happen if you pick your lashes out too often or if you wear eyelash extensions too often. Additionally, many women experience lash loss with age.
The most common side effects after using LATISSE® are an itching sensation in the eyes and/or eye redness, which were reported in approximately 4% of clinical trial patients. LATISSE® solution may cause other less common side effects which typically occur close to where LATISSE® is applied.
Currently, there is only one product proven effective for growth and thickness, which is Latisse. The FDA-approved serum is formulated with an active ingredient called bimatoprost, which not only causes existing lashes to become longer but also stimulates growth in hair follicles not currently producing lashes.
Lash Extensions and Renewed Youth
The good news is that lash extensions can be the perfect way to counter those aging effects. No, they won't remove fine lines and wrinkles, but they can provide a powerful remedy that diminishes the importance of those signs of advancing age.
Aging: Eyelash growth has four stages: growth, resting, shedding and re-growth. Throughout your life, your lashes continuously cycle through these four stages. However as we age, eyelash follicles (the openings in the skin through which the lash grows) can slow or stop producing new lashes altogether.
The proteins strengthen your strands and improve the quality of your locks. The benefits aren't limited to the hair on your head. Using collagen-based products or taking collagen supplements can also help your lashes and brows grow faster and thicker!
Now for lashes, the hormone estrogen in the body affects their rate of growth and their thickness. The right levels of estrogen will grow thick and healthy hair whilst low levels of estrogen can lead to thinning hair.