What’s Bugging You?
Facial Mites
Warning: This article and the following will discuss a form of microscopic fauna (troglofauna) that some may consider disgusting. All the more reason to read it, right?
Most people are disgusted by seeing a cockroach scurrying across the kitchen counter, the proverbial fly in their soup, and creatures such as maggots and bedbugs. These visible life forms cause revulsion that may be based upon learned behavior or something more instinctive.
As a very young child, I remember hearing adults speak of cockroaches in an accentuated negative tone; cursing is not out of the question either. Our reactions to this particular insect may have been picked up from adults.
Even today, I fear leaving a motel with cockroaches or bedbugs in my suitcase, but I don’t bat an eye when an inchworm lands on my head while hiking – in fact, I regard them as somewhat cute.
So, we make hard and fast distinctions between the small but visible creatures that are wormlike, wiggly or have many legs. We may not want them in our kitchens or beds, but our disgust is limited to relatively few species.
We almost universally love butterflies.
But what about the millions of microbial life forms that inhabit the surface and interior of our bodies? Is this bias a case of “out of sight, out of mind?”
Case in point.
Let me share a story that occurred in the mid-2000s when I was a safety and health consultant for a large staffing company in Ohio.
I visited a client in the reconstruction business whose current project was converting a conventional multiplex movie theater into a dine-in theater that serves food and beverages.
On one of my visits, I conducted a walk-through with the reconstruction firm’s industrial hygienist. He pointed out the challenges of selecting stain and spill-resistant furniture for the theater, emphasizing the need to keep everything as sanitary as possible.
Even in a conventional movie theater, spilled soft drinks, candy and popcorn can, if not cleaned adequately between movies, attract all manner of flora and fauna that would gag a barbarian if they were visible.
And a human eye can only see something no smaller than about 0.1 mm. For perspective, a single strand of human hair is approximately 0.12 mm in size.
When we returned to the hygienist’s makeshift onsite lab, I noticed a chair from the old theater cut lengthwise in half and resting on a long table beside a microscope.
The hygienist, a rather droll guy, said, “Would you like to see something that will freak you out?” “Of course,” I said, “I have a strong stomach.” I soon learned that my stomach wasn’t exactly made of cast iron.
He motioned me to the microscope and instructed me to look through the eyepiece at a glass slide he placed on the holder. I was looking at a jungle burgeoning with live bacteria and microbes of all sizes and shapes moving about in all directions; all I could say was,” Wow!”
He explained that I was looking at a fabric swatch from the chair’s headrest. The microbes, he explained, feed on oil and skin cells deposited and absorbed into the headrest.
Where does the oil come from? Yep, from the thousands of heads that have rested against the outer fabric for at least an hour and a half per head.
Until that moment, going to the movies and seeing blockbusters and great independent films was one of my favorite activities, right up there with going out to eat at a nice restaurant.
I resumed going to the movies, although I was never as comfortable as before. I was happy when digital streaming became main- stream.
My point?
Humans, and most other mammals, are covered with creepy crawlers that are too small to see but inhabit nearly all body parts, including our faces. If you were sitting across a table from me, or most any other member of humanity, and possessed microscopic vision, you would be shocked at what you see.
I would look at you with your rosy cheeks, lovely complexion and long eyelashes. You would look at a face crawling with mites, tiny members of the spider family called Demodex folliculorum, and its smaller cousin, Demodex brevis.
That tiny creatures inhabit the nooks and crannies of our bodies may be shocking to many who think that bathing and antibacterial soap take care of just about any bacteria, but we are wrong.
Americans spend an average of $322 per year on skin care products, which is nearly a half billion dollars per year. Most of these beauty products do little to reduce the creatures that reside and thrive on our faces.
This article and the following will examine the role of bacteria and other microbials in and on our bodies.
Many of these microbes, whether on the face or in our gut, are beneficial and have co-evolved with us for millions of years. In fact, the DNA of the facial mites can reveal where our ancestors came from.
Meet Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis, human face critters.
Both species of facial mites are similar, except D. brevis is smaller than D. folliculorum, and brevis prefers dining on sebum, a greasy substance found in the oil glands of our pores and hair follicles.
D. folliculorum prefers living in the smaller hair follicles, such as the eyelashes and consumes only skin cells. Both species live exclusively on human skin and are related to spiders and ticks. Likewise, both critters rarely do any harm except in rare situations when their population explodes.
Large numbers of facial mites can cause a skin condition called demodicosis, which is not very attractive or comfortable. If this condition exists around your eyelashes, it can affect vision, cause loss of lashes, and a persistent red irritation on and around the eye.
If demodicosis develops on the cheeks, outer ear, forehead, or sides of the nose, it can cause redness, burning, itchiness, pustules, and scales similar to eczema.
Treatment usually involves applying a cream or lotion containing the same pesticide used to kill ticks. Again, this condition is rare and only occurs when the facial mite population grows out of control.
Now for an even creepier aspect of facial mites, their lifecycle, and lifestyle.
If you examine a hair follicle under a microscope, you will notice a small space between the hair and the follicle’s wall. The female mite crawls into the space head first and begins feeding.
Both species, D.folliculorum and D. brevis have two segments to their wormlike body. The front segment has the head and sets of four legs on an adult and three legs on an immature mite.
This creature really is creepy, considering it is covered with scales and has no functioning anus. If you’re thinking, “Well, at least they don’t poop on my face,” you are mistaken. They only poop once and that is after the female lays her eggs and she dies.
Then, her body disintegrates, releasing the contents of the lower segment, which is basically just a bag of poo. Yuk!
The only time she leaves her follicle is to mate on the skin’s surface, which takes place at night while you’re sleeping. Consider this as you fall off to sleep tonight.
The entire lifespan of the facial mite, from larva through nymph stage to adult, is less than two weeks.
Well, I do hope that you are not reading this over a meal; my apologies if you are.
Humans are not the only ones hosting microbials if it’s any solace. Even our dogs have their own species of skin mites to contend with, Demodex canis. This specific mite causes mange in dogs.
At least we don’t have to deal with that horrible disease.
A friend reminded me recently of the importance of curiosity in living a full life. A life without curiosity is a self-imposed curse. Please make a habit of learning something new and true each day.
* Some sources suggest a connection between facial mites and rosacea, however the link is not strong.
Ken Springer
ken1949bongo@gmail.com
