Risk Factors. Some people are at greater risk for face-mite overgrowth than others. This includes people with conditions affecting the immune system, such as HIV or AIDS. Medications like chemotherapy or topical steroids can also impair the immune response and put you at higher risk of overgrowth.
What causes demodicosis? Demodicosis occurs when the face mites multiply out of control. This usually occurs because your immune system isn't functioning well.
Demodex is contracted and spread by either direct contact or dust containing eggs.
Too many Demodex mites can cause uncomfortable symptoms that may include: Itchy or burning eyes, especially in the morning. Swollen eyelids. Crusty eyes.
At high concentrations, tea tree oil is a potent killer of Demodex mites. The problem is that solutions of 100% tea oil, or other high concentrations, are very irritating to the eye. So one approach is to thoroughly wipe the eyelashes and eyebrows with a diluted solution of tea tree oil, from 5% to 50%.
Medications typically used to treat demodex include metronidazole (topical),6 ivermectin (topical and oral), crotamiton (topical), and permethrin (topical).
However, when something – such as stress, illness, or old age – weakens your dog's immune system, the mites can multiply out of control and cause demodectic mange. Puppies are also most commonly affected while their immune system matures.
Face mites — Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis — spend their days facedown inside your hair follicles, nestled up against the hair shaft, where you can't see them. They eat sebum, the greasy oil your skin makes to protect itself and keep it from drying out.
Demodectic mange can resolve on its own in mild cases. It usually takes 1-2 months for mild, localized infections to resolve spontaneously.
The hair loss usually begins on the face, especially around the eyes. When there are only a few patches of hair loss, the condition is referred to as localized demodectic mange. If the disease spreads to many areas of the skin, the condition is referred to as generalized demodectic mange.
"Demodex mites live on our skin and are especially prominent in areas where we have a lot of oil like the face or the middle of the chest." Even worse, said mites thrive in unsanitary environments, like Xu's dirty pillowcase.
Demodex mites are considered a normal occupant of hair follicles and exist in a commensal relationship with humans. At times, though, these mites can become more parasitic, resulting in a variety of ocular diseases.
Symptoms include red or dry eyes, swollen eyelids, sticky lashes, itching, burning or stinging, grittiness in the eyes and crustiness around the outer edge of the eyelid. An infestation of mites can also cause dry and itchy skin, and it can even damage the oil glands at the edges of the eyelids and the lashes.
Human immune system has an inhibitory effect on Demodex mite proliferation, keeping numbers under control without inducing an inflammatory reaction or any clinical symptoms. On the contrary, Demodex mites can also cause local immunosuppression, which allows them to survive in human skin.
Temperatures below 0 degrees C and above 37 degrees C are harmful to the mites. The lethal temperature is 54 degrees C, and the effective temperature that kills Demodex mites is 58 degrees C.
The mite, Demodex follicularum, spends its entire lifetime living in our skin follicles. In the daytime they feed on our oily skin secretions, at night they leave the pore to find mates, and find new follicles in which to have sex and lay their eggs. If the thought makes you want to wash your face, forget it.
The high efficacy and low side effects of essential oils, such as TTO and its active ingredient terpinen-4-oil, camphor oil, sage oil, peppermint oil, neem oil, clove oil make them good candidates for the treatment of mites.
Rather, several indirect mechanisms connect Demodex mites to rosacea severity. First, Demodex is a well-known carrier to Bacillus oleronius; a gram-negative bacterium; extracts of Bacillus oleronius stimulate proliferation of mononuclear cells from patients with rosacea.
Common interventions used for Demodex infestation include metronidazole-based therapies, permethrin, benzoyl benzoate, crotamiton, lindane, and sulfur. Short courses of metronidazole taken orally have shown efficacy in reducing Demodex density.
These mites aren't crazy about light, so during the day they burrow deep in the eyelash follicles and snooze. They come out at night, while we're sleeping, and have a party — mating and munching on dead skin cells.
A lot of dogs will look a little worse before they get better. This is completely normal. There is a lot of information to suggest that dogs who develop an overgrowth of demodex mites have a genetic predisposition to do so.
Direct contact or eggs present in dust as well as contact with infected towels, blankets, or sponges are the possible routes of Demodex spp. infection described in the literature [13, 14]. The use of facial creams or eyeliners has been considered as a potential route of Demodex spp.
Possible Impact of Demodex Diagnosis
Formication, a sensation resembling that of insects crawling on or under the skin, is a specific form of the general set of abnormal skin sensations known as paresthesias (prickling, tingling sensation of “pins and needles”) and tactile hallucinations.
New research published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution found that Demodex developed its unique body plan through inbreeding, a sheltered life and genome shrinkage. The authors warn that continued DNA erosion could drive the species to extinction.