Follicle Mites
The Truth About Follicle Mites - The Parasites that Live on Your Skin
Follicle mites, also referred to as Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevi,are parasites that live on human skin, namely the face. They are microscopic and tend to make their homes in hair follicles, hence their name. They are also commonly called face mites and demodex mites.
Basically, a hair follicle is a tube that extends from the skin to the hair’s root. Close to the surface of the skin is the sebaceous gland that creates sebum, or oil. The sebum helps moisturize the skin, although too much of it can also lead to breakouts. Many people who have cystic acne have problems with overproduction of sebum which can only be controlled with medication.
For some reason, follicle mites tend to prefer living on the face, even though there are sebaceous glands and hair follicles located all over the body. They can exist anywhere on the face, including the forehead, around the nose and eyes, and on the cheeks. Research has found that the largest infestation of these mites generally occur on the cheeks, although there is no known reason as to why this is true.
The follicle mites have four pairs of legs near their head and are long and thin. They do not have very strong colors, probably because that helps them blend in more with the face and the follicles. For the most part, the Demodex folliculorum mites live in the hair follicles while the Demodex brevis prefer the sebaceous glands. Both types of mites live on dead skin cells and the secretions produced by the sebaceous glands. They reproduce within the glands and the follicles and they are also able to move from follicle to follicle, as well.
You are much more likely to find the mites on adults. It’s very rare to find the mites on children, probably due to the fact that children produce less sebum. There are some studies that even suggest that nearly all senior citizens have at least a few follicle mites in their skin.
The mites themselves can be contracted through close skin contact or through fabrics that are shared such as towels and cloths. Since they can’t jump, however, the individuals would have to be fairly close in order for the mites to be able to pass from one person to the next. In some cases, the mites can come off onto pillowcases and be transmitted to another person if that person also sleeps in the same bed.
Since they are so small, you might not even be aware that you have them. In order to see them, they have to be held under a microscope. If you scratched the surface of your face and then put the oily residue under a microscope, you might see them or you might not-especially if they are buried down deep into the hair follicle.
For the most part, they shouldn’t cause you any disturbance. However, they might have a role in some skin conditions such as papulopustular rosacea. This is partly due to the fact that mites can accumulate to large numbers in a follicle, sometimes as many as 10 in one hair follicle. People with low immune systems are particularly susceptible to infestations that cause symptoms.
Although there haven’t been a lot of studies conducted on the role that the mites might play in disease, a topical antiparasitic cream can be prescribed when there are a lot of mites present that could be causing problems. Treatment such as this might be able to alleviate some of the problems that the mites can cause.