Demodex mites are more often friends than foes, but they do party all over our face while we sleep | Credits: Shutterstock
Dozens of eight-legged mites crawl out of your pores to meet and party all over your face. They are tiny, but when seen magnified, they are pretty disgusting. They’re called Demodex mites, and almost all adults have them throughout their bodies.
You can’t see or feel these nocturnal crawlers, because they are tinier than a pinpoint. They are invertebrates, measuring approximately 0.15 millimetres to 0.4 millimetres in length, and live around the outer parts of hair follicles, feeding on their oily contents, according to the report.
“As you fall asleep each night, you can take comfort in knowing you are never truly alone — thanks to the dozens of eight-legged mites crawling out of your pores to party,” CNN wrote. Alejandra Perotti, an associate professor of invertebrate biology at the University of Reading in England, said if you are creeped out, “don’t be,” because these demodex mites are more often friends than foes.
They mate, visit relatives and party
“While we are sleeping, they come out and are very happy, mating, visiting relatives, walking on our faces,” she added. “The moment we wake up, they go back inside the pore.”
In exchange for cleaning muck out of our pores, our bodies offer these miniature vacuums melatonin, a hormone produced in the skin that puts us to sleep but gives the mites vital energy, Perotti said.
Similar to microscopic vampires, the mites have evolved to shield themselves from ultraviolet sun rays, which could easily destroy their DNA.
The face typically has up to five mites per square centimetre, although without examining a skin sample under a microscope, it’s impossible to see them with the naked eye.
Perotti explained that if your immune system weakens, the mite populations can sometimes overproduce, leading to a host of skin and eye conditions.
They can cause demodicosis
Dr. Richard Locksley, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, stated that Demodex mites can multiply rapidly, causing an overgrowth condition known as demodicosis.
Immunodeficient individuals, such as older adults or those undergoing chemotherapy, are more vulnerable to demodicosis and may experience an inflammatory response to the mites and the bacteria that can colonise them, Locksley said.
The inflammation can manifest as rosacea, acne, dryness and flaking, especially on the cheeks, eyelids, forehead and creases where oil may accumulate, said Dr. Roberto Ricardo-Gonzalez, associate professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Probably best that most of us are unaware
“Most people are completely unaware they have the mites, and it should stay that way,” Locksley said. “You could do more harm picking around looking for problems than just being agnostic about it.”
Regular, adequate sleep is also essential in preventing the skin from overproducing sebum, the oily substance that’s like food for the mites, studies have shown.
CNN said that demodex mites have been observed on humans for centuries, and it is believed they are passed from contact with our mothers shortly after birth.
Perotti and her research team discovered in 2022, however, that these symbiotic creatures may be experiencing what she calls “a long-term evolutionary death. We predict mites will eventually disappear.”
