Beauty editors have been getting excited about the prospect of a new treatment, Latisse, which apparently increases the growth of eyelashes. Approved by the FDA in America, it is applied like an eyeliner and vouched for by Hollywood actress Brooke Shields.
Now, men are unlikely to be getting as squeakily excited about this as the beauty editor of Grazia, but a new announcement may change that. Clever boffs started thinking that if the medication, originally developed to treat glaucoma, made eyelashes grow then it might do the same for the hair on the scalp.
Now Allergan (who manufacture the medication) have announced that testing is going to start to investigate the potential for bimatoprost – the chemical name for the drug – to be used as a hairloss treatment.
Their head of research and development, Scott Whittcup, said that though bimatoprost was approved for glaucoma, as a treatment for hair loss the company were “sort of starting from scratch.”
We are currently trying to establish if Allergan has applied for a license for Latisse in Europe. We will bring you further news on this as and when we have it.