Imagine your hair is starting to thin out on top – perhaps you don’t need to imagine this, and only need to look in a mirror to be reminded of a reality. But imagine also that your bank account is heaving with so much money that some of it just falls out and lands on the floor every time you try to put some more money in. Imagine on top of this predicament of wealth, you also realise you already own every single thing you could ever possibly need or wish for.
If this sounds like you, then Latisse is the solution to your hair loss problem.
Developed originally to treat glaucoma by reducing pressure in the eye – the prostaglandin analog ingredient bimatoprost facilitates the movement of fluid out of the eyeball – a pleasing side effect was luscious long eyelashes in its users. Pharmaceuticals were quick to recognise a wider market for this product. Now available as a treatment for sparse eyelashes, or eyelash fallout which can occur as a side effect of other conditions (such as hypothyroidism), research has also been conducted to determine its effectiveness on the scalp.
The cost of Latisse for scalp hair loss
But at $1 a drop – the recommended quantity to treat one eye each day – in its current form, the long-term cost effectiveness of Latisse for use on the scalp is not merely negligible, but laughable. Just one drop a day of this little bottle of magic may be enough to trigger and maintain hair growth of eyelashes on skin that is thin, delicate, and absorbent, but on the scalp where the skin is much thicker and tougher (its job is after all, is to provide a first line of defence to the brain, so it needs to be), you really do need to be ridiculously wealthy to think of applying ten or fifteen times as much to the scalp on a daily basis.
And even if you are one of those people who have used it on your scalp and found it to be successful, anecdotal evidence really isn’t going to cut it with the FDA when clinical trials have only seen limited success. Where people use it on areas of skin that have fully functioning hair follicles – sure, the hair will grow in nice and thick. But where follicles have already shrunk to a point where hair just won’t grow, no amount of Latisse liquid gold is going to produce hair. Your scalp might turn a funny colour though – its only known side effect is hyperpigmentation of the skin.
Maybe future research and development of the product will see a form of Latisse on the shelves which has been designed for use on the scalp – with ingredients added to encourage scalp absorbency or rejuvenate shrivelled hair follicles – but until then, Latisse is really only a solution for the very rich or the very foolish. A hair transplant may seem more expensive, but over a lifetime, it will cost you half as much as a lifetime’s supply of Latisse!
