Elizabeth Taylor will forever be remembered as one of the most beautiful women in the world.
Her eyes, purported to be violet in color, were certainly one of her most remarkable and enviable features, and as it turns out? naturally enhanced by a rare genetic mutation. Distichiasis, a condition where a person has a double rows of eyelashes, allowed Liz?s beautiful eyes to permanently framed by a thick fringe.
As reported by Slate.com:
Double rows of eyelashes are usually the result of a mutation at FOXC2, a gene that influences all kinds of tissue development in embryos. FOXC2 mutations are thought to be responsible for, among other things, lymphedema-distichiasis syndrome, a hereditary disease that can cause disorders of the lymphatic system in addition to double eyelashes.The eyelash mutation isn?t always as cosmetically enhancing as Taylor?s turned out to be?the extra eyelashes can sometimes grow inward and damage the cornea. And it turns out that 7 percent of people with lymphedema-distichiasis syndrome also suffer from congenital heart disease.
Although Liz fortunately avoided any of the complications associated with distichiasis, her diagnosis certainly factored into her childhood. From an old Washington Post review of J. Randy Taraborrelli?s Taylor biography Elizabeth:
The scene is straight out of the ?X-Men? franchise. A beetle-browed physician calls a pair of young parents into his office and, in the gravest of cadences, informs them that their newly born daughter has ? a mutation.?Well, that sounded just awful,? the girl?s mother later recalls, ?a mutation. But, when he explained that her eyes had double rows of eyelashes, I thought, well, now, that doesn?t sound so terrible at all.?
Star of the film [“Lassie Come Home”] Roddy McDowall, then 13, recalled: ?On her first day of filming, they took one look at her and said: ?Get that girl off the set ? she has too much eye make-up on, too much mascara.?So they rushed her off the set and started rubbing at her eyes with a moist cloth to take the mascara off.
?Guess what? They learned that she had no mascara on. She has a double set of eyelashes.
Now, who has double eyelashes except a girl who was absolutely born to be on the big screen??
In the scheme of mutations, a double row of eyelashes sounds like a wonderful one to have. Although only a miniscule percentage of people are born with this condition, modern science has allowed us options so that we can all look like fortunate freaks.
Latisse (the only FDA-approved eyelash growth enhancing serum) will not grow you an additional row of eyelashes, however it will force the lashes you do have to grow longer, thicker, darker, and faster. Applied once daily for 4-months, maximum results are often envy-inducing.
Elizabeth Taylor will always be remembered for her beauty, and despite the fact that she is no longer with us her desirable traits continue to set the bar for today?s beauty standards, and current trends show that her quintessentially feminine attributes will be sought after for years to come.