You mite not have heard of them, but they'd lice to tell you a story

December 17, 2015 2:09 PM

The history of humanity’s grand sweep around the world is recorded in our genes and genealogies, our art and artifacts, our literature and languages. It’s also written in the legions of tiny mites that live, eat, crawl, and have sex on your face.
posted by sciatrix (34 comments total)

Well, as long ad they don't to the bathroom there, I guess it's ok!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:32 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh my god, I have been obsessed with demodex for the past week (not because of any physical malady related to them, just normal everyday horror). I decided to put a roll of scotch tape by my bed and sticky-tape them off my face after they emerge under the cover of the darkness from my pores and follicles to bump uglies in the middle of the night. On my face. Should I wake up in the middle of the night and happen to think about it.

Scanning electron microscope photo of a Demodex

Illustration of Demodex Folliculorum feeding from hair follicles
posted by Auden at 2:36 PM on December 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

Psst... Interested in buying some electron microscopic pornography? Real hardcore shit.
posted by jonp72 at 2:39 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Do they cause acne? (Maybe, maybe not.)

It seems they don't poop; but they "spill everything" when they die...
posted by Segundus at 2:51 PM on December 17, 2015

...Bioré should make full face masks, now that I think about it.
posted by Auden at 2:54 PM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am against this.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:02 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I knew it already, there's no reason to remind me! And if I didn't, why tell me about it? beyond the fact thats's it's fascinating
posted by hat_eater at 3:14 PM on December 17, 2015

"spill everything", a phrase I never expected would gross me out
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 3:19 PM on December 17, 2015

my face itches
posted by pyramid termite at 3:25 PM on December 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I very much enjoy the fact that each one of us is more of an ecosystem than an individual, with bacterial cells outnumbering human ones in our bodies by 10 to 1. Worlds within worlds, demodex within follicles. . .
posted by DrMew at 3:32 PM on December 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

This book is way more interesting than you would ever expect: "Rats, Lice, and History" by Hans Zinsser
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 3:38 PM on December 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Look at Auden's first link. That thing has ten times as many pleats as an accordion, or perhaps more to the point, as many as a geoduck -- and I bet it can pull itself down into a follicle the way a geoduck whips down into its burrow, too.

And they do withdraw into the follicles in bright light, apparently.

But what would they have to be afraid of, really? Were our faces at one time also a venue for a demodex predator we somehow got rid of? (Least squickily, a tiny wasp that would swoop in and grab them, say?)

There are two mites principally involved in human demodex infestations, Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis. D folliculorum is found in small hair follicles, particularly the eyelashes. In both its immature and adult stages it feeds on skin cells. D. brevis is found in the oil glands that are connected to small hair follicles and feeds on the gland cells.
...
Human demodex mites are found mostly on older children and adults and rarely in children under 5 years old.

This might cast a new light on blackheads, it seems to me. A blackhead could essentially entomb the mites and could also possibly prevent the bacteria they release when they die from causing an infection in the follicle.

It's also interesting the way they stick their tails(?) out of the follicles in Auden's second link. Are they doing that to breathe?
posted by jamjam at 3:57 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I very much enjoy the fact that each one of us is more of an ecosystem than an individual

I would agree with you if the particulars weren't so fucking disgusting / horrifying. Why can't we have cute parasitic organisms? Like little microscopic pandas or something.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:04 PM on December 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

More pretty pictures at this 2014 article from the Daily Mail.

Check out this gif!
posted by Auden at 4:07 PM on December 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

party on little dudes!
posted by telstar at 4:19 PM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

... and there was that first moment when you, the newborn child, suckled at your mother's breast, and as she gazed at you with love... these little invisible bugs were crawling from her bosom onto your lips and up onto your cute little cheeks and then burrowed into your face for the rest of your life

("Presumably, Demodex passes to newborns through close physical contact after birth; however, due to low sebum production, infants and children lack significant Demodex colonization. Presence of mites in adolescents and young adults continues to be surprisingly low but increases from the second decade to the sixth decade of life and remains steady through the eighth decade".)

...good overall review of the Demodex literature at that link, btw, in a 2009 article on the treatment of Demodex Dermatitis.
posted by Auden at 4:24 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm glad something is having sex on my face.
posted by Chuffy at 4:27 PM on December 17, 2015 [25 favorites]

this is... fascinating. And horrifying. There aren't enough nope.gifs to truly express my horror.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:28 PM on December 17, 2015

Sex, lice and Demodex face?
posted by Chuffy at 4:30 PM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Why can't we have cute parasitic organisms? Like little microscopic pandas or something.

how about a water bear?
posted by Auden at 4:34 PM on December 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

The guy in the article called them parasites, but they seem more like inhabitants, grazing on our pores like deer in the forest.

I am surprised at how they don't seem to move from person to person much, despite how much face-to-face contact many people have.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:04 PM on December 17, 2015

the previous post on this sent me into an obsessive spiral for longer than I'd like to admit. reading research on them, buying various soaps... I was absolutely convinced beyond reason that these damn mites caused all my skin problems (acne mostly). My obsession was problematic/noticeable enough that I received a stuffed mite as a gift. I've mostly calmed down now but I keep it on my dresser to remind me to apply tea tree oil not to worry about it.

brb, applying tea tree oil
posted by ghostbikes at 7:03 PM on December 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

brb, pulling out my eyebrows
posted by jokeefe at 8:16 PM on December 17, 2015

... You put tea tree oil (and, maybe you add lavender or eucalyptus oil, just to be safe) in a coconut oil carrier (50% essential oil, 50% carrier oil) and apply it to your face. You wait. It should kill most of them off in no time at all, or so they say. Although, their whole life-cycle is only 18-24 days, and a surviving female will lay 20–24 eggs in a single hair follicle. 12% of follicles appear to be infested with Demodex, the research says. So, you apply the tea tree oil (in a carrier, not directly to your skin!) and... is that weird tickling sensation on your face only the slow movement of the oil flowing down towards your chin, or is it the death throws of multitudes thrashing about on your face in la petitest mort?
posted by Auden at 8:23 PM on December 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

It should kill most of them off in no time at all, or so they say.

We know almost nothing about them, and they've been with us for all of our evolutionary history - I'm not sure I'd be so cavalier about killing them off (in any case, you're almost certain to be re-infested.) Reading this, I was wondering if there are any analogies to the role of gut bacteria.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:29 PM on December 17, 2015 [8 favorites]

What?

no

no no no no no
posted by lollusc at 9:00 PM on December 17, 2015

almost certain to be re-infested

and what if you're re-infested by . . . water bears
posted by mubba at 9:05 PM on December 17, 2015

I'm not sure I'd be so cavalier about killing them off (in any case, you're almost certain to be re-infested.) Reading this, I was wondering if there are any analogies to the role of gut bacteria.

I think that's right. Although I think, if one were diligent, you could keep the infestation to a minimum. The relationship with their host seems to range from one which is commensale to parasitic to possibly one of mutual benefit. I think it depends on several factors, especially the functioning immune system of the host. There have been suggestions that secretions/excretions from demodex have antibacterial properties that protect the skin; on the other hand, demodex infections have been linked - to various degrees - to acne vulgaris, rosacea, blepharits and (obviously) demodicosis. It's a complex relationship. With grotesque, horrible little things in the follicles and oil glands on our face, on our ears, around our nipples...
posted by Auden at 9:06 PM on December 17, 2015

For these thousands of tiny beings, and their millions of ancestors and their millions of descendants, you are a god. You are their whole known world. You are where they live and what they eat. How can you be unhappy with their worship?
posted by fredludd at 12:16 AM on December 18, 2015 [8 favorites]

In the book Skáldskaparmál poetic means of referring to the sky are provided, some of which relate to the narrative in Gylfaginning involving Ymir, including "Ymir's skull" and "jötunn's skull", or "burden of the dwarfs" or "helmet of Vestri and Austri, Sudri, Nordri". A portion of a work by the 11th century skald Arnórr jarlaskáld is also provided, which refers to the sky as "Ymir's old skull". Later in Skáldskaparmál poetic terms for the earth are provided, including "Ymir's flesh", followed by a section for poetic terms for "sea", which provides a portion of a work by the skald Ormr Barreyjarskald where the sea is referred to as "Ymir's blood".

Being a parasite host, that's where I'm a viking.
posted by XMLicious at 12:49 AM on December 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

what if you're re-infested by . . . water bears

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the bear out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mite out of thy brother's eye.
posted by flabdablet at 3:32 AM on December 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Here's a picture of Scarlett Johansson. And now that we have your attention, here's an article about something.
posted by dgaicun at 12:47 PM on December 18, 2015

How can you be unhappy with their worship?

I'm really more of an Old Testament-style god, and I think my worshipers could be doing better. Any ideas on how to communicate with them? Microscopic tablets? Could I set an individual hair follicle on fire?
posted by asperity at 1:33 PM on December 18, 2015

For a short moment I thought the link was just a large photo of of Scarlett Johansson and the subtitle: "We Know Almost Nothing ".

It proffered an eerily similar feeling to the actual article.
posted by lucidium at 7:31 PM on December 18, 2015