A drug for this, a drug for that, and side effects you might not believe

Something for Everyone

If you wake up one morning with the uneasy feeling that you’re an imposter – that you’re not really you – then you may have Capgras syndrome.

That’s just one way this delusional syndrome can manifest. Some patients come to believe their spouse is an identical-looking imposter, or close friends and family members are imposters. Even pets may be included in the delusion.

The website PsychNet-UK offers complete details about CS, including specific suggestions for three antipsychotic drugs that have been used to treat CS patients.

Seriously – even this extremely rare disorder has a track record of drug treatments. Sure, they’ve got a drug for that! Which means, of course, they’ve got a drug for anything and everything. And that includes conditions that have zero impact on your health.

For instance: Maybe your life is so worry-free that one of your primary concerns is the length of your eyelashes. Sure – they’ve got a drug for that! Even more amazing – it’s a prescription drug that’s FDA approved.

Wait…it gets better…

Use it or lose ’em

If you’ve got “inadequate eyelashes,” then Latisse is your go-to medication. But there are a few curious side effects you should know about before you start applying Latisse to your eyelashes everyday. (That’s right: You have to apply Latisse daily or you’ll return to the sad life of inadequate eyelashes.)

You might call Latisse a second-generation-side-effect drug. The first generation is a prescription eye drop treatment called Lumigan, which treats glaucoma by relieving intraocular pressure. When Lumigan was first marketed about eight years ago, many patients found that their eyelashes grew thicker and longer.

So the good folks at Allergan (the company that makes Lumigan) took the active ingredient of the treatment and devised a way to apply it to the eyelid – right above the eyelashes. And based on a single study, the FDA decided that Latisse should be shared with inadequately-eyelashed consumers.

Now, about those potential adverse side effects…

• Itchy eyes
• Red eyes
• Dry eyes
• Darkened eyelids (which “may be” reversible)
• Hair growth in unwanted spots

But the most unusual side effect – maybe the most unusual I’ve ever encountered: Latisse (like Lumigan) may turn blue eyes brown. And this is “likely to be permanent.”

Permanent! And they actually believe women will use this medication when a tube of mascara can get the same job done with zero side effects.

Trouble in hiding

Latisse use might present one more problem. It could mask glaucoma.

I’ve had many a bone to pick with Consumer Reports over the years when their editors have ventured into health care and produced absurd warnings about supplement use. But this time they got it right.

In a blog on the CR website, associate editor Kevin McCarthy notes that Lumigan eases eye pressure for glaucoma patients. If Latisse does the same, people with early glaucoma may go undiagnosed longer than usual, delaying treatment for this disease, which happens to be the second leading cause of blindness.

That’s an outside risk. Here’s a risk that’s unquestioned: If you use Latisse you’ll have a lighter wallet because a one-month supply will cost around $120. Allergan execs predict the medication will earn yearly sales of around $500 million. That’s right: half a billion dollars. For longer eyelashes.

The insanity of it all: Priceless.

Sources:
“FDA OKs 1st Eyelash Drug Latisse” “Miranda Hitti, WebMD Health News 12/26/08, webmd.com
“Drug Promises Fuller Lashes, But At What Cost?” Kevin McCarthy, Consumer Reports, 3/5/09, blogs.consumerreports.org