Mascara in new drug’s shadow

Tired of spending $50 a tube on mascara, 27-year-old Newport Beach resident Laura Brakensiek asked her eye doctor last month for help to get the thick eyelashes she’d always dreamed of.

“I like to play up my eyes when I do my makeup,” Brakensiek said.

Her Newport Beach ophthalmologist, Gregg Feinerman, prescribed Latisse, a recently FDA-approved treatment that makes eyelashes thicker, darker and fuller.

“Wow, we might have to cut back your dosage,” Feinerman joked, as he looked at Brakensiek’s long, thick eyelashes during her checkup on Friday.

The active ingredient in Latisse was first used by the pharmaceuticals company Allergan in the drug Lumigan to releve the pressure that builds up around the eyes of glaucoma patients.

“The patients that were using this drug were noticing that their eyelashes were growing fuller, to the point where they would have to trim them,” Feinerman said.

Feinerman has quietly been offering the drug cosmetic treatment at his Newport Beach clinic since 2002 for friends and a few patients. He once prescribed it to a friend who was undergoing chemotherapy and had lost her eyelashes as a result. Users apply the product to the base of their eyelashes with a small brush each evening for fuller lashes.

More patients are asking Feinerman about Latisse now that the product has been FDA approved for cosmetic use. Feinerman estimates he’s been seeing about 100 patients a month who ask for the product. Men are asking him for Latisse too, he said.

“A lot of men in their late 40s notice that their lashes are getting thinner, so they ask for it,” Feinerman said. “I think it helps them feel they look more youthful.”

Latisse costs about $120 for a month’s supply. The thick lashes gradually return to their old appearance after users stop applying the product.

Brakensiek said she first started to notice her eyelashes were growing longer after using the product for about two weeks, but she began getting compliments about her long, full lashes after about a month.

Latisse causes some users to have temporary redness or itchy eyes, but Brakensiek said she hasn’t experienced any negative side effects.

Now Brakensiek’s mother also uses Latisse, and her roommate is considering asking her doctor for a prescription.

“People ask me all the time if they’re fake,” she said.