Maintain the Health of Your Eyelashes

Eyelashes are somewhat of an understatement when it comes to the amount of time and effort that women put into making themselves beautiful. Women pull, rub, curl, pluck and apply mascara to their eyelashes daily. And yet unlike our hair we don't really take care of our eyelashes. In addition our eyelashes are exposed to environmental irritants, pollution and smoke. All of this exposure will lead to thinner and fewer eyelashes.

Eyelashes develop relatively early after conception, about 7-8 weeks on an embryo. This is also the length of time that an eyelash will take to regrow if one falls out or is plucked out. Eyelashes like eyebrows are designed to protect the eye from debris. Because of their sensitivity, if something touches the eyelashes, they provide a warning that something is very close to the eye itself. Instinctively once something touches the eyelashes the eye will close to prevent harm from coming to the eye. Although, the purpose of eyelashes is to protect the eye, the eyelashes are viewed as a beauty accessory more than anything.

Although everyone has them, women more than men care about how their eyelashes look, how long they are and how thick they are. Men could care less about their own eyelashes unless they are causing them pain or they have an eyelash disorder. It is rare to hear about eyelash disorders or diseases unless you have one, know someone who has one or work in the medical field. Eyelash disorders or diseases can arise from irritation, cosmetics, inflammation, drugs or toxins, mites or system disorders. The most common eyelash disorders include madarosis the loss of eyelashes, distichiasis an abnormal growth of lashes, trichiasis ingrown eyelashes, or demodex folliculorum a mite that lives harmlessly in the eyelash and other hair follicles. Dermatologists, ophthalmologists and endocrinologists are the doctors who can diagnose and treat eyelash disorders.