EYELASH GROWTH
Achieving Better Eyelashes in Vancouver
In our fair city of Vancouver, eyelashes are high priority in the female beauty regime. From hundreds of mascara choices to ‘lash lounges’ and lash serums, Vancouver women are continually seeking ways to improve their eyelashes. Long eyelashes are culturally considered a thing of beauty; while thick lashes are seen as more exotic. Either way, women understand that eyelashes have the ability to really enhance femininity and draw attention to the eye.
To improve upon the set of eyelashes Mother Nature gave you, read on to learn about eyelash growth, how to grow longer lashes and eyelash care tips.
Eyelash Growth Basics
Eyelashes consist of keratin, just like the other hair and nails on your body. It is ‘avascular’ (meaning no blood vessels are present) and the cells are dead (there is no metabolism). It‘s the hair follicle that is 
alive. At the base of the hair follicle is the ‘papilla’, a little device that makes soft keratin, which is secreted into a tube and eventually dries and hardens into a hair.
Hair and eyelash growth have a life cycle with three phases: anagen, catagen and telogen. Anagen is the active growth phase and lasts from a few days to a few years, depending on the body part. The eyelash has the shortest lifecycle, moving from the anagen phase through the catagen transition to the telogen shedding phase (where eyelashes fall out and the hair follicle becomes inactive) within 6-8 weeks. Hair follicles are never all active at the same time. In fact, follicles can disappear for a time and then reappear to grow new hairs and no one is really sure how or why.
Do Eyelashes Grow Back?
Our Vancouver patients often ask, “I seem to be losing more eyelashes than normal…will my eyelashes grow back?” The short answer is yes, because of the eyelash growth cycle where they are always recycling like the other hair on your body. However, we work with patients to examine the reasons why
you may be losing eyelashes. It may be the result of something simple like the way you are removing eye makeup or your mascara. More complicated issues may involve an infection, hormonal imbalance or an autoimmune condition.
Some women find that their lashes thin when they reach their mid-thirties or forties—and not all their eyelashes seem to grow back. As we age, the metabolism slows in the cells of the hair follicle and some follicles become dormant, resulting in fewer eyelashes. In addition, hormonal changes can affect hair and eyelash growth.
How Do You Grow Longer Eyelashes?
First the hard truth: you are either born with gorgeous lashes or you have to invest in them. You cannot drastically enhance your natural eyelashes with home remedies such as olive oil and petroleum jelly. It’s true that a healthy diet full of a variety of ‘whole foods’ will help eyelash growth, but this is just a starting point.
The fastest way to grow longer eyelashes is with a prescription growth enhancer such as Latisse. This is a Health Canada and FDA-approved lash serum that has become immensely popular because of its record of success. Latisse requires a doctor’s prescription and is available only through medical doctors who provide Botox injections. Our staff is experiencing thicker, longer eyelashes with Latisse.
Eyelash Care Tips
- Cleaning – Be sure to gently remove makeup from the eyelashes with an appropriate cleanser. Vigourous rubbing or pulling on the eyelashes can damage follicles and affect the eyelash growth cycle.
- False eyelashes and extensions – Never use these if you’re trying to improve your eyelash growth and/or re-grow lashes. Application and removal of fake lashes can pull out your natural eyelashes and inhibit growth.
- Eyelash curlers – A poor quality or broken eyelash curler may damage the follicle by pulling hairs out. This action has a negative effect on the follicle, which will go through an induced telogen cycle and may delay the replacement hair cycle so a period of no hair is present until the new one grows in.