If you are one of those people who are focused on personal cleanliness to the point of obsession, don’t read any further.

Topic of the day: Eyelash mites.

Mites as most people know, are microscopic animals which are present throughout our environment. There are more than 48,000 species.

They are not normally noticeable to the naked eye.

All animals are hosts to mites of one type or another, mites love to specialize, they have evolved so many species in response to the demands of living off a particular host.

One of the varieties is the Demodex folliculorum, more commonly known as the “Eyelash Mite”, which lives in human hair follicles and which feeds off the oils which are secreted by the same follicles. They are harmless to humans, do not normally cause reactions, or otherwise damage us unless we really neglect skin hygiene.

They live in the follicles while we are active, then emerge when we sleep, in order to mate.

Then there are non-host type mites which generally co-exist with humans, but which can cause allergy problems… like ‘Dust mites’, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus which live in residences, and in dust, and which feed off the dead skin cells which we shed continuously.

Note: Photo below enlarged several hundred times. 

These are in contrast to these, other types of mites which are actively dangerous to our health, include ‘Chiggers’ or Trombiculidae, which burrow into the skin and cause rashes or in severe infestions, crusting of the skin, etc.

Mites are perhaps the most successful of all species, and are likely to survive any catastrophe which might befall the human race.

Anyone getting itchy?