Q: I read that Latisse, the medication recently approved to grow eyelashes, can be used to grow hair in other places. Is this true?
A: Yes. We are currently looking at the use of Latisse (Lumigan, Bimatoprost) to grow eyebrow hair and we suspect that it will be useful in stimulating the growth of scalp hair as well. However, there are additional issues when using it to treat male or female pattern hair loss. These include:
- The potential for side effects from systemic absorption, since androgenetic alopecia usually covers an area much larger than eyebrows or eyelashes.
- The cost of Latisse used in large quantities can be prohibitive.
- Long-term results (the ability of Lumigan to keep stimulating hair growth over time is not currently known).
For more on this topic, please visit the Latisse page on the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration website.
