Allergan Inc. (AGN) posted a 64% slump in first-quarter profit on a host of charges as the eye- and skin-care products company was also hurt by the stronger dollar.

Shares fell 3.8% premarket to $44.88 even as earnings excluding items topped the company's forecast.

Makers of aesthetic medical treatments are under pressure from the economic slowdown. While many established patients are sticking to their beauty regimens, it is tough to entice new patients in the current environment. In February, Allergan said it would cut 5% of its work force, targeting mainly its U.S. urology sales force and marketing staff in the U.S. and Europe.

The maker of Botox and the nation's largest seller of medical products for appearance-enhancement treatments reported first-quarter earnings of $44.7 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with $123.7 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items including charges from changing stock options, profit rose to 55 cents a share from 53 cents.

Revenue fell 6.4%, with product sales falling 6.3% to $994.6 million on the stronger dollar.

In February, Allergan forecast earnings, excluding items, of 50 cents to 52 cents on product sales of $960 million to $1 billion.

Pharmaceutical sales were down 3.6%, but rose 2.3% excluding currency changes.

Allergan, which reiterated its 2009 forecast, sees second-quarter earnings, excluding items, of 66 cents to 68 cents a share, on product net sales of $1.05 billion to $1.1 billion. Analysts, surveyed by Thomson Reuters, projected earnings of 68 cents and total revenue of $1.08 billion for that quarter.

-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5658; mike.barris@dowjones.com