NEW COSMETIC HAS DANGEROUS SIDE-EFFECTS -- WHY DO PEOPLE USE IT?

[Guest guest]

Among other things, it can cause darkening of your eyelids, change

the color of your eyes…permanently-- and grow hairs on your cheeks!

Wow! Sign me up! Jan

 

 

New

Cosmetic Has Dangerous Side-Effects -- Why Do People Use It?

 

Despite the Maybelline close-ups, Allergan's new drug

Lattise is not mascara, but a glaucoma drug repurposed as an eyelash grower.

And its side-effects are frightening.

 

April 1, 2010

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Photo Credit: dreamglow pumpkincat210

 

 

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Not enough lashes? GROW THEM! exhorts a billboard with a life-size likeness of Brooke

Shields at a Chicago

shopping mall. Grow longer, fuller,

darker lashes says a TV ad for the same product showing Brooke

enchanting everyone at a party with new flutter appeal.

But despite the Maybelline close-ups, lash

applicator and vanity sell, Allergan's new drug, Lattise, is not mascara -- but

a glaucoma drug repurposed as an eyelash grower.

Like Viagra, intended as a blood pressure

medication until a certain side effect surfaced, Retin-A, which treated

acne before wrinkles, and Botox, first used for eye spasms, the ingredient in

Allergan's Lumigan, bimatoprost, turned out to stimulate eyelash growth. Older

glaucoma drugs like latanoprost and travoprost -- called prostaglandin analogs

because they bind to prostaglandins or lipids -- also stimulated lash growth

but not as much.

A lash stimulator also fit well into Allergan's

portfolio. The Irvine, CA-based eyecare company launched Botox in 2002 and now

markets the facial filler Juvederm, breast aesthetics, and balloon and banding

devices for obesity " interventions. "

Because Lattise was approved by the FDA for

hypotrichosis -- inadequate hair growth -- many expected its marketing campaign

to " sell " hypotrichosis like restless legs syndrome or other diseases

du jour when it began last year. Others thought its natural audience

would be the Botox and Restasis (Allergan's dry-eye drug) set: aging boomers

with thinning lashes, or people who had undergone chemotherapy.

Wrong. Lattise was pitched as a cosmetic

must-have like lip gloss, with actress Brooke Shields serving as its

" compensated spokesperson and actual user, " and teens and

20-somethings became its biggest fans. In fact, over-the-counter products with

bimatoprost called MassiveLash, DermaLash, Luxette, Age Intervention and MD

Lash Factor actually preceded Lattise to market -- and their manufacturers were

sued by Allergan in 2007 for patent infringement. At least 10 remain on the

market, their ingredients unclear, and users compare them to Lattise on beauty

Web sites.

At first blush, Lattise is reminiscent of

permanent eyeliner and other permanent makeup, which lost popularity after the

FDA warned it could cause disfiguring granulomas in 2004. In fact, saving money

on daily mascara is used as a defense of Lattise's $120 a month cost, rarely

covered by insurance.

But it also shares the risk features of LASIK

eye surgery and the " addiction " features of Botox. " If

discontinued, lashes will gradually return to their previous appearance "

warns a disclaimer in the TV ad. Translation: if you like the effects, you've

got a monkey on your back from now on. Why else do dope dealers say " first

taste free " ?

Lattise works. Everyone from Shields, to

makeup-nistas to the doctors who reached their career lows rating " eyelash

length, fullness and darkness " for Allergan's FDA submission agree that it

works.

It's what else it does that give

Lattise its drawbacks.

" My eyelids have become darker, " posts

one Lattise user on a Consumer Reports blog. " I have also had the problem

of hairs growing in the corner of my eye, which I just pluck out with little

pain, and one eyelash that grows in an errant way. "

" My lashes all of a sudden grew in a burst,

got very spindly/spidery, and then many shed at the same time, " posts

another on essentialdayspa.com.

" My classmate…sprouted fuzzes on her

cheeks area right below her eyes, " says another poster on soompi.com.

" It was honestly pretty nasty, lashes were not worth it because I don't

know what she's going to do about her cheeks. "

" My eyes changed from blue green to dark

hazel and are now becoming brown, " writes a fourth on bellasugar.com.

" After a very short period of time I stopped using it and my eyes darkened

for months after discontinuation. This product does change eyes to brown and I

don't care what the clinical trials say. "

It is not the users' imaginations. According to

patient information, Lattise " may cause darkening of the eyelid skin which

may be reversible [nee irreversible]... increased brown pigmentation of the

colored part of the eye which is likely to be permanent…[and] hair growth

to occur in other areas of your skin that LATTISE frequently

touches. "

 

Martha Rosenberg frequently writes about the impact of the

pharmaceutical, food and gun industries on public health. Her work has appeared

in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and other outlets.