Last week Allergan announced their intent to file a New Drug Application with the FDA for bimatoprost as a treatment to stimulate lash growth. Bimatoprost is currently used topically, in the form of eye drops, to control glaucoma. It has the curious side effect of making lashes grow longer and thicker.

If you follow beauty news, you may have heard of this drug before; last year, the FDA seized $2 million of a product called Jan Marini Age Intervention Eyelash, for unapproved off-label use of bimatoprost. Why the problem? Well, first off, Allergan (not Jan Marini) owns the patent for bimatoprost, and secondly, off-label use of something like this is a huge no-no. This drug can have some SERIOUS side effects.

We're not talking redness or itchiness here, either...more like optic nerve damage, blindness, and permanent darkening of the iris. Scary! And scarier still when you find out a company like Jan Marini had been selling this to consumers all along, without the appropriate research or warnings. Other lash-growing products (original formulas of RevitaLash and MD Lash Factor) have also used bimatoprost or other prostaglandin analogues in their formulations.

I'm sure Allergan will test rigorously before moving forward with a bimatoprost-containing product specifically for eyelash growth; in fact, FDA approval isn't expected next year. But still, I don't know if I'd ever really feel comfortable using a product just to get longer lashes, knowing I could potentially sacrifice some of my vision or my eye color. I think I'll stick to my tube of Fatale, thank you! How about you?