Brooke Shields' Prescription Ad For Thicker Eyelashes
 Tuesday, June 30th, 2009  by Connie T.

Last night we saw Brooke Shields in three commercials for three separate products within an hour or two: Colgate Total? Check. Coppertone? Check. Latisse? Wait, what?

Okay, so Lipstick Jungle was cancelled. But things can't be bad enough for Shields to agree to push prescription drugs for something as superficial as thickening one's eyelashes, could they? A few years back, we were 100% in Brooke's corner when Tom Cruise infamously criticized her for taking an anti-depressant for post-partum depression. After all, a man like Tom has no clue how the surge of hormones can plummet a woman into a very dark place post child birth, and that "vitamins" can't solve it.

But now we're beginning to wonder if Brooke is actually pro medication in any situation, and if maybe Tom wasn't (slightly) onto something about her. Latisse is this new drug that costs $120 per month, and is painted on the eyelashes with a small brush once a day. According to the Consumer Reports blog, Latisse can potentially mask undiagnosed glaucoma, change any color eye to brown, permanently darken your eyelids, and/or cause red and itchy eyes. Not to mention that new drugs obviously don't have the trial of time behind them - a lot of lawyers would be out of business if bad side effects weren't constantly discovered from medications that have been on the market for years.

I literally cannot believe that anyone would take a prescription to get fuller eyelashes. Mascara, falsies, eyeliner, eyelash extensions, as long as you have a steady hand are not going to carry a risk to you. Nor can I believe Shields is advocating this. What's next? A pill that makes leg hair fall off by itself? Or how about one that makes your lips turn the color of your favorite lip shade? The makers of Latisse claim the drug is helpful for people with hypotrichosis; the ads call it "another name for inadequate or not enough eyelashes," which really generalizes a condition in which hair growth doesn't occur. And the posters and advertisements in hair salons make it pretty obvious that it's targeting the general population looking to spruce up their looks, and that's just sad. What makes it worse is that Brooke Shields is in healthy-type ads like "Got Milk?" as well, and that people might actually trust the recommendation.

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