The latest beauty enhancer made its debut this week, and the eyes -- well, the eyelashes -- have it.
Allergan, the company behind Botox, launched Latisse, an eye treatment that gives women (or men) the same out-to-there lash bliss commonly found on sweet-faced 2-year-olds.
"It's a real enhancing effect," said Dr. Leonard Miller, a local plastic surgeon whose Boston and Brookline offices have started offering the service, for which a prescription is required.
Miller said the daily treatment, applied on a clean, makeup-free face before bed, is applied like liquid eyeliner. A small brushful, swiped across the upper lid, works two-fold. It penetrates the hair follicle to increase the length of hair already growing, and to grow new lashes.
"At 16 weeks, patients will see a 25 percent increase in length," he said, noting the ideal is Twiggy, not Dita Von Teese. "It's a nice increase."
Miller cautions that overuse could irritate the eye and even change iris color, and isn't sure what will happen when someone stops using the serum. "If you stop using it, your eyelashes may go back" to being shorter, he said. "It might be possible to use it every other month to maintain it."
