We sport between 90-150 lashes per eye, or as the Greeks termed them ‘blepharon,’ and these 300 also achieve a lot. They protect the eye by acting like whiskers to sense objects or wind and allow us humans to signal health, fertility and interest in another (flirting). Recently they have even been shown to alter airflow around the eye, thereby protecting the corneal surface.1
Gaze-tracking studies from the 1960s have shown that we are most preoccupied with the area around the eyes when meeting another person.2 But this has been intuitive knowledge since antiquity. The Egyptians, for example, were avid users of mascara and possibly the earliest hieroglyphs discovered have been found on a cosmetic palette.3 There persists then, even some 5,000 years later, a huge interest and industry around lash enhancement. In fact, there is even a patient-reported eyelash satisfaction questionnaire.4…
