You may be removing more than hair follicles!

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
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Twenty years ago, in my research for my book on telangiectasia, I discovered the demonex mite. A ubiquitous worm-like parasite, that enjoys living in our hair follicles and feeds on oil secretions and skin, is a suspected cause of rosacea (telangiectatic-like red skin patches). But rosacea is not the subject of my posting, instead, it’s an interesting condition called “Keratosis Pilaris.”

Some years ago, I had a patient with an extensive case of keratosis pilaris. The condition, of “unknown cause” creates a hard acne-like plug of epidermal overgrowth in the follicle infundibulum. The patient was a 22-year-old Swiss student at UCSB (University of California at Santa Barbara). The “cure” for his condition was electrolysis! Remove the hair follicle and you “remove the condition.” He had two nasty patches of hair and “acne” on his back and upper chest. Amazingly, his (Swiss) insurance paid for the procedure — and, it worked beautifully. No hair follicles — no keratosis pilaris. Gone!

Presently, I have another young fellow with the same condition — unfortunately, much worse. So, I went on-line again and was amazed that some thinking is that the demonex mite may be the cause of this condition too! As with rosacea, the person’s body is reacting to this hideous little monster. In the case of rosacea the capillaries get inflamed, in the case of deratosis pilaris, the epidermis reacts by forming the characteristic plug. Indeed, there are “cures” we found on-line, but many seem “sketchy.” Still, we are looking, and have found a dermatologist that is willing to try a “kill the demonex” approach. I think this is fascinating. I’m hoping we don’t have to do electrolysis and can find an easy topical approach. I wonder if laser would zap the critters? I think it’s worth a try. (They have no pigment, but perhaps the thermal reaction of the hair “igniting” might dispatch them?)

By the way, there is a ton of information on the demonex mite — but beware. If you get “creeped out” by parasites (especially those that you probably have), don’t look at the photos of the thing! Funnily enough, these critters seem to prefer eyebrows and eyelashes (said to be their initial location of “infection”). So, when you are doing a beautiful “eyebrow shaping,” you undoubtedly are also killing microscopic “WORMS!” Is that the sound of the worm “popping” I sometimes hear electrologists talking about? (Just kidding.)

Seriously, I’m not a big fan of parasites. And yes, I did get nightmares. You can’t shower the things off, but I tried. Suddenly, I feel itchy!

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Good timing, Mike! I was looking back in my past files for information about this mite. It was discussed at a continuing education seminar about three years ago. I was up until 1am last night searching and searching and somehow I got distracted and ended up reading about Manuka bee oil instead. I knew the mite’s name began with a “D”, but couldn’t remember the rest. So here you are, like magic, posting about it! It is a gross looking thing. I still need to find my notes as I feel as though I jotted some worthwhile information on the critter.

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Is this what causes my pores/follicles to form hard cylindrical plugs of skin and push them out of otherwise tender skin areas? All my life I thought I simply had “problem” skin. Laser hair reduction eight years ago greatly reduced the incidence of the problem, and the resulting folliculitis I always experienced.

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" I wonder if laser would zap the critters? I think it’s worth a try. (They have no pigment, but perhaps the thermal reaction of the hair “igniting” might dispatch them?)"

This is interesting. Could the fact that many people get IPL treatments for acne possibly be treating the mites?

My son was diagnosed with Keratosis Pilaris when he was around 10. “Chicken Skin” on the back of his upper arms. Not very noticeable, but the doctor found it after we asked about the large clogged pores on his nose. He has since go on to full blown acne which was especially bad on his forehead and back. The forehead has completely cleared up with treatment, but his back is still very bad. He is 15 now. Also the same clogged pores on his nose, but they never get inflamed.

All this makes me wonder… Caith, it sounds very similar to what you discribed.

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Can someone tell me what the acne from this looks like?

My brother has very bad acne (large cysts) on his back and chest and I’ve written before that many, many of the follicles are blocked with plugs, but they are really huge! I had been considering if electrolysis to remove those hairs would help his situation anyway. But I would really like to know what could be causing this in the first place…

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If you have access to a microscope, I believe, a hair or two can be tweezed or the skin scraped? so you can see these little demons. I will google that and see if there is any information. I am going on my memory right now.

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Not sure how reliable this site is, but here are some pictures:

(copy and paste it in your browser)

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From PubMed:

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If you copy and paste this in your browser, there is a video of a scraping, slide and microscope for identifying the mite.

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Well done “gang,”
I’ll pass on the information to my patient.
All of us working together for a “common cause” … feels nice.

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These mites eat sebum, hormones, etc. If there is nothing to nourish them, they will go to the neighboring hair follicle. My guess.

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I still can’t locate my notes from three years, but found this:

http://www.jashbotanicals.com/articles/demodex_folliculorum.html

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Looking at my face has made me come to the scientific conclusion and discovery that laser hair removal may in fact provide a nourishing environment for these mites… just sayin’! HaHa!

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Discussion forums on these mighty mites:

http://curezone.com/forums/f2.asp?f=827

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More:

23-Apr-2010 22:28 #1 moni
DryEyeTalk Regular

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Dec 2009
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tx
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Demodex mites testing
How does one know if rosacea or mgd is caused by the mites, I get the bug crawling sensation in my face sometimes… have you guys been tested??
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24-Apr-2010 00:18 #2 Spoon
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New Zealand
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Hello Moni. That is a burning question (excuse the pun) that has been the subject of a lot of research. There is a lot of medical literature and anecdotal evidence out there showing that demodex mites can produce symptoms associated with both cutaneous and ocular rosacea [1]. In my opinion there are two key findings:

  1. An over proliferation of demodex mites (demodecosis) can cause inflammation and some studies have shown a greater number of these mites in rosacea skin compared control subjects, others have not.
  2. People with rosacea are more likely to react to a bacterium that lives inside these mites.
    (New Study Shows Role for Bacteria in Development of Rosacea Symptoms | Rosacea.org)

The most common finding in patients with above normal demodex infestation of the eyelids is crusting on the eyelashes and madarosis. However Deomdex brevis can live inside the Meibomian glands with not ‘crusting’ of anterior lid. Anyway you could determine the prevalence of demodex folliculorum in your eyelash follicles yourself. Then you can work on eliminating them to see if you’re symptoms improve – this is not that easy to do as most treatments are highly irritating to the eyes.

First remove a sample of eyelashes (say 6) and then examine them under a microscope. Google will show you what they look like. I use a Viliny electronic microscope that cost me $80 US. Then work on reducing the mite numbers (Google will tell you how to do this) over a period of a month. If you have had an improvement in symptoms it is not necessarily due to treating the mites – the treatments will reduce other potentially etiologic factors as well (eg bacterial endotoxins) – so test for the mites again. After doing this a few times you may notice a correlation between symptoms and mite levels – and hopefully the epilated lashes will quickly grow back.

Or just ask a doc to test you. I’m personally on the fence as to whether this is worth doing – in my case I only found one mite and used tea tree shampoo with no noticeable improvement. However you’re case may be different and I haven’t tested my meibum for Demodex brevis either. Also I haven’t even been diagnosed with ocular rosacea, but instead mgd with significant inflammation of posterior lid and conjunctiva which are the same symptoms.

[1] Association of Rosacea with Demodicosis; Hamideh Moravvej MD*, Mohammad Dehghan-Mangabadi MD*, Mohammad-Reza Abbasian MD*, Gita Meshkat-Razavi MD•*

Sorry I don’t have time to fully reference my response right now.

A video of how to test the skin for demodex mites:

Good luck
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Still more. Tea Tree Shampoo!?

Typical, wandering males mites always looking for sex when they are not eating.

"Tex
Regrowth.com Member

Registered: Jan 2007
Posts: 24
Article for Dex about Demodex Mites

Dex, Here is a article about Demodex Mites in todays Houston Chronicle that was interesting. Tex
RESOURCES

ABOUT THE BUGS

•Two species of microscopic Demodex mites colonize human eyes: D folliculorum live on eyelashes and in their follicles, and the smaller D brevis live inside eyelid glands.

•They consume skin cells and oils secreted by eyelid glands.

•A single follicle may contain as many as 25 D folliculorum.

•Although they look more like worms than spiders, eyelash mites have eight tiny, segmented legs. The larger variety creeps slowly from follicle to follicle.

•They live head down in follicles, their rear ends often sticking out of the skin at the base of the lashes.

•Territorial females remain in their follicles and wait. Males wander the skin surface looking for mates.

•The females then burrow back into their follicles to lay eggs.

•Eyelash mites only live about two weeks.

Source: eMedicine.com Mary Ellis’ eyelashes were under assault.

A legion of microscopic arachnids had invaded, scuttling across her lids, burrowing facedown into her follicles, breeding, munching on dead skin cells and drinking oily secretions.

The attack of the eyelash mites left the retired bookkeeper’s lids red and itchy.

“I had extreme discomfort in my eyes,” said Ellis, 71. “It felt like they were being scraped when I moved my eyelids up and down.”

The same thing can happen to you. It probably has.

The vast majority of adults — and practically all senior citizens — host Demodex folliculorum. Most never notice the ugly little bugs, but for some, the red eyes they see in the morning mirror have nothing to do with what they drank the night before.

“Dryness is the most common complaint,” said Dr. Richard Yee, clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

The mites also can cause scratchiness and crusting of the eyelids. One theory holds that the eight-legged pests plug some of the glands that help keep the eyes lubricated.

Yee says most of the patients he sees at Hermann Eye Center who have blepharitis, or eyelid inflammation, host larger-than-normal mite populations.

“Eyelash mites are underdiagnosed as a cause for this,” said Yee, who estimates he treats three to six patients a week for infestations.

The bugs tend to hide from bright light by burrowing farther into hair follicles. To get a good look, Yee must pluck a few lashes and put them under a microscope. This isn’t difficult since mite crowding tends to make eyelashes fall out.

“I’ve lost a lot of my eyelashes,” said Ellis, who visited Yee in February.

When he finds a few mites clinging to an eyelash, Yee likes to take pictures and show them to the patient. "Once they see it, they say, `Yes, please clean me up,’ " Yee said.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to look at those critters. They were awful,” Ellis said. "The doctor told me, `Everyone has mites; you just have an overabundance.’ "

Yee and his team clean the debris out of patients’ eyelids in the office. His recommended home treatment, however, departs from standard practice.

Most physicians tell patients to wash their eyelashes with baby shampoo, scrub their lids and apply warm compresses at bedtime. Yee has found that tea-tree oil works better. He applies it in the office and advises patients to use tea-tree shampoo to keep the mites under control.

Ellis had no trouble finding a common brand at a discount store and uses it to battle the bugs. Since her eyebrows were scaly, too, she uses it on them as well.

“I just put the tea-tree shampoo on my eyebrows (and lashes), and it works,” she said. “That’s cheaper than a prescription.”

For questions or comments on Health & Medicine, contact matthew.schwartz@ chron.com.

3/22/2007 3:50 PM "

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I’m done with this subject.

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I felt a sick wave of recognition while reading this. :frowning: Some of this sounds so familiar and to think it may be due to a mite. Ugh.

But better to be aware of this than not be.

There was much improvement when using tea tree oil, Tend Skin lotion or Aloe Vera.

(Regular use of Tend Skin also cleared out a very stubborn case of Athlete’s Foot and certain kinds of acne.)

I’ve also heard good stuff about Neem oil too but never tried it.

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Thank you Dee. I will read through everything and post my thoughts.

At a cursory look, it seems we all have these mites?

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Kind of looks that way? :o