What is bimatoprost and how does it work for eyelash growth?

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve been looking into how to grow longer eyelashes, and you’ve come across a nifty little solution called bimatoprost. Lucky you! Bimatoprost is a little-known yet incredibly effective treatment for eyelash growth. In this article, we’ll explain what bimatoprost is, how it works, and a few other common questions about this amazing liquid.

What is bimatoprost?

Bimatoprost is the only clinically-proven, prescription-strength treatment approved for eyelash growth. It comes in liquid form and is applied to the upper lash line. In large, controlled research trials, bimatoprost was shown to lead to significant improvements in eyelash length and thickness in nearly 80% of patients after 16 weeks.

How does bimatoprost work?

Bimatoprost is a prostaglandin analog... but we know that doesn’t mean anything to most people, so let’s go for a plain English explanation.

Before diving into bimatoprost itself, let’s take a quick tour through the natural cycle of eyelash growth. Our hair follicles exist in three different phases... the anagen, catagen, and telogen phases. Anagen and telogen are the two you care about... anagen = growing and telogen = resting. Our bodies produce natural hormones called prostaglandins which, when they bind to receptors in both types of hair follicles, stimulate the transition from telogen to anagen, as well as lengthening the anagen phase[1].

Bimatoprost simply mimics these hormones—and by doing so, it’s thought that the compound can stimulate both types of hair follicles.

In addition to acting as a mimic hormone to stimulate eyelash growth, bimatoprost can also help patients with glaucoma by lowering the intra-ocular (inside the eye) pressure. But we know you’re here to learn about lashes, so let’s skip the mechanism for ocular pressure for now!

How was bimatoprost for eyelash growth discovered?

As mentioned above, bimatoprost can also be used to treat glaucoma, and it actually existed as a clinically-approved treatment for glaucoma before it was used for eyelash growth. In these clinical trials, doctors (and their patients) noticed that the patients’ eyelashes were growing, leading to further exploration into how bimatoprost was impacting hair growth. Eyelash growth was actually reported as a “side effect” for glaucoma patients (though we imagine most people weren’t too upset about it!).

When a US-based manufacturer of glaucoma eye drops observed this, they saw an opportunity to cash in on a prescribed aesthetics product, and patented bimatoprost 0.03% (the same concentration used for many glaucoma patients) as Latisse®. Lucky for you, that patent only applies in the US, so UK customers can access generic (read: more affordable!) bimatoprost 0.03% treatment for eyelash growth. 

Is there a difference between prescription and over-the-counter bimatoprost?

100% yes.

The only safe, legal way to get bimatoprost 0.03% for eyelash growth is with a prescription. Some private doctors will write this prescription to be filled through a pharmacy, or you can get an online prescription and medication delivered straight to your door (oh hi, that’s us).

Some companies offer lower strength bimatoprost or other prostaglandin analogs without a prescription, which is legal, but these treatments don’t have the science to back up their efficacy.

Which brands sell bimatoprost?

In the UK, we are the first brand to sell bimatoprost 0.03% online and with a fully virtual consultation plus prescription written by a UK-licensed medical provider.

It can be a bit confusing, however, when you start looking at the US, where bimatoprost for eyelash growth is much more common. As mentioned above, the patented version of bimatoprost available in the US for eyelash growth is called Latisse®, which is sold by a pharmaceutical company called Allergan. In the US, you can’t currently get generic bimatoprost prescribed for eyelash growth—you have to pay for the much pricier brand-name Latisse®. Just like with Boots ibuprofen vs Nuprofen, the active ingredient in the medication is the same—it’s the brand name you’re paying extra for.

To make things more confusing, Allergan also manufactures bimatoprost 0.03% for glaucoma patients, marketed in the US under the name Lumigan®. If you’re looking for bimatoprost for eyelash growth, you can pretty much ignore Lumigan®, but you may see it come up if you’re digging into the research about bimatoprost. Just as with Latisse® vs. generic bimatoprost, Lumigan® contains the same active ingredient and could theoretically be used in exactly the same way as Latisse® or generic bimatoprost, but it’s only approved for glaucoma patients in the US (and it’s not even available in the UK, anyways!).

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References

[1] Subedi, L., Pandey, P., Shim, J.-H., Kim, K.-T., Cho, S.-S., Koo, K.-T., Kim, B.J. and Park, J.W. (2022). Preparation of topical bimatoprost with enhanced skin infiltration and in vivo hair regrowth efficacy in androgenic alopecia. Drug Delivery, 29(1), pp.328–341. doi:10.1080/10717544.2022.2027046.

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