You live with millions, if not billions of unseen living creatures in your home. They blow around and float in the air from your normal activities. You kill them by the thousands when you walk across your carpet, or wash your bedding, but they always survive. They have brains that contain everything preprogrammed for their survival. They are called Dust Mites!
Dust Mite
The house dust mite survives in all climates, even at high altitude. A person sheds about 1.5 grams of skin cells and flakes every day (approximately 0.3–0.45 kg per year), which is enough to feed roughly a million house dust mites under ideal conditions. If trying to control house dust mites, humidity should be kept low. House dust mites thrive in the indoor environment provided by homes, specifically in bedrooms and kitchens. Dust mites survive well in mattresses, carpets, furniture and bedding, with figures around 188 animals/g dust. Even in dry climates, house dust mites survive and reproduce easily in bedding (especially in pillows), deriving moisture from the humidity generated by human breathing. House dust mites consume minute particles of organic matter. House dust mites have a simple gut; they have no stomach but rather diverticulae, which are sacs or pouches that divert out of hollow organs. Like many decomposer animals, they select food that has been pre-decomposed by fungi. House dust mites eat the same particle several times, only partially digesting it each time; between feedings, house dust mites leave particles to decompose further. Only when the particles are fully digested do they enter the dust mite’s fecal matter. There are two species of house dust mites found in North America. These mites are so small they are virtually invisible without magnification. Female mites lay cream-colored eggs coated with a sticky substance so eggs will cling to the substrate. These mites have two distinct immature stages. Under optimal conditions, the entire life cycle from egg to adult takes three-four weeks. House dust mites feed on human skin scales, pollen, fungi, bacteria and animal dander. Dust mites do not drink free water, but absorb water from the air and the environment. To thrive, dust mites need very warm temperatures (75-80 degrees F) and high humidity levels — 70-80 percent relative humidity. One study showed when humidity is 60 percent or lower, the mite population stops growing and dies out. Humans continually shed skin and lose about 1/5 ounce of dead skin each week. We also spend about one-third of our lives sleeping so high levels of dust mites are often associated with the bedroom, especially bedding and the mattress. Dust mites also eat animal dander so allergens will be plentiful in areas where family pets sleep.
Now, for the rest of the story, eye lash mites! They live by the many thousands in your eye lashes.
- eye lash mite
These mites live heads-in your eyelash follicle, feeding on sebaceous excretion and dead skin cells. They come out to the skin surface at night to mate and return to the follicle to LAY THEIR EGGS! The eggs hatch and *tada!* you got babies and the population of eyelash mites you are host to increases exponentially.
Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of your eyelashes. (A follicle is the pore from which a hair grows).
Demodicids have a wormlike appearance, with legs that are mere stumps. People with oily skin, or those who use cosmetics heavily and don’t wash thoroughly, have the heaviest infestations … but most adults carry a few demodicids. Inflammation and infection often result when large numbers of these mites congregate in a single follicle.
An individual female may lay up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, and as the mites grow, they become tightly packed. When mature, the mites leave the follicle, mate, and find a new follicle in which to lay their eggs. The whole cycle takes between 14 to 18 days.
The mites have tiny claws, and needlelike mouthparts for eating skin cells. Their bodies are layered with scales, which help them anchor themselves in the follicle.
And don’t bother scrubbing your eyes out tonight when you shower. Almost nothing gets them out. But washing your closed eyes with baby shampoo helps keep their numbers down.
Experts say that they do no harm except that if too many are in one follicle, that eyelash will come loose and fall out easily. In fact, some say that eyelash mites and you exist in a symbiotic relationship in that they actually eat your waste material, thus cleaning you up. Maybe they’re trying to say that if you didn’t have eyelash mites, you’d have greasy and dandruffy eyelashes.
Also, small comfort: Eyelash mites are so efficient that they eat but do not have excretory exits and thus there is no eyelash mite poop falling into your eyes.
