Epidemiologic Analysis of Change in Eyelash Characteristics With Increasing Age in a Population of Healthy Women

BACKGROUNDObservations that eyelashes become thinner, shorter, and lighter, as women age has not been previously quantified.OBJECTIVEThis study was conducted to investigate associations between eyelash characteristics and age.MATERIALS AND METHODSThe upper natural eyelashes of 179 subjects were photographed and analyzed (digital image analysis); length, thickness, and darkness (intensity: 0 = white and 255 = black) were calculated. Linear regression, including race as a potentially confounding factor, was used to assess the association between age and mean eyelash characteristics.RESULTSSubjects' mean age was 40.3 (10.3) years; 46.1% were white, 36.5% Asian, 9.0% Hispanic, 5.1% East Indian, and 3.4% black. Mean eyelash length ranged from 6.39 (+/- 1.02) to 7.98 (+/- 1.15) mm (subjects aged 50-65 years and 22-29 years, respectively). Mean thickness ranged from 1.17 (+/- 0.42) to 1.62 (+/- 0.56) mm(2) (subjects aged 50-65 years and 20-29 years, respectively). Mean intensity ranged from 118.2 (+/- 19.8) to 129.4 (+/- 17.3) (subjects aged 30-39 years and 50-65 years, respectively). Adjusted for race, eyelash length, thickness, and darkness decreased significantly with increasing age (p < .000, p = .0090, and p < .05, respectively).CONCLUSIONAdvancing age among an ethnically diverse population of healthy women is associated with significant decreases in eyelash length, thickness, and darkness.