Abstract
Latanoprost, a prostaglandin analog, has been reported to stimulate eyelash growth in patients using it in eye preparations for glaucoma and body and scalp hair growth when used topically in various animal models. Will prostaglandin analogs be the next agents used for forms of alopecia?
Shortly after the introduction of a prostaglandin analog, latanoprost (Xalatan®), as an intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering drug for use in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension, the stimulating effect of this drug on eyebrow and eyelash hair growth and pigmentation was reported in an ophthalmology journal. [1] As when minoxidil appeared, physicians, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and hair-challenged lay people the world over built up hopes that lightning had struck again and that latanoprost's hair-growing capabilities would be useful for treatment of baldness. Perhaps a family of similar chemicals would become new, effective hair-promoting drugs. Latanoprost is familiar to ophthalmologists colleagues because of its utility for the treatment of glaucoma, but dermatologists lag behind in understanding the effects of this new class of drugs. This paper is an update on this hot topic.
Clinical and observational studies
Latanoprost was first documented as a hair-growth stimulant by Johnstone in 1997. [1] Aware of this nonocular effect of the drug, he looked for evidence of hypertrichosis and pigmentation of eyelashes among 43 patients who were using unilateral topical latanoprost for glaucoma. Hypertrichosis was evaluated in the ipsilateral terminal and regional intermediate hairs of the upper and lower eyelids as well as vellus hair of the lower eyelid skin. There was a mean increase in lash length of the lower eyelid of 19.5 percent in the latanoprost-treated eye (range, 0%-36%). The two patients who had no measurable eyelash-length change exhibited an increase in the number of eyelashes. Differences in hair appearance between the latanoprost-treated eye and the nontreated control eye included increased number, length, thickness, curvature, and pigmentation.
Several additional case reports of hypertrichosis and darkening of eyelashes in patients treated with latanoprost have appeared. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. A representative case involved a 53-year-old woman who suffered from glaucoma and total loss of the eyelashes in both her eyes as well as diffuse scalp hair thinning after an allergic response to ibuprofen. She experienced a regrowth of all her eyelashes after 2 months of treatment with latanoprost...
