Thousands of creatures live on your face while you sleep and this is what they look like: “We should think of them as companions”
Thousands of tiny critters call your skin home, and they’re here to help.
It sounds like the stuff of nightmares, and that’s because it is. Right now, you are not alone. In fact, you have thousands of microscopic friends crawling all across your body - in your hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, face and everywhere else. And they’re not just crawling, they’re doing important business, like mating.
But don’t worry, because you can’t do anything about it and you’re probably better off not trying to scrub them down the plughole.
Take demodex mites for example, the nightlife lovers of our skin-dwelling friends. They are tiny invertebrates - they are actually arachnids, cousins of spiders and ticks - which measure about 0.15 millimetres to 0.4 millimetres in length, and live on the outer parts of hair follicles, feeding on their oily contents. No, you can’t see them in the mirror.
Are you lonely? Don't be. Demodex is a type of mite that lives on your face. Friends forever. pic.twitter.com/c3ieSzz4GV
— Space Explorer Mike (@MichaelGalanin) November 2, 2018
‘While we sleep they are happy, mating, visiting relatives, walking on our faces’
“While we are sleeping, they come out and are very happy, mating, visiting relatives, walking on our faces. The moment we wake up, they go back inside the pore,” explains Alejandra Perotti, an associate professor of invertebrate biology at the University of Reading in England, to CNN. Nice of them to politely wait until we’re asleep before they get on with their intimacies.
In exchange for doing us the favour or clearing out the buildup in our pores, these tiny “vacuums” receive melatonin from us—a hormone our skin produces to help us sleep, but which gives the mites essential energy, according to Perotti.
The Cleveland Clinic describes them in the following way: “under a microscope, the mite looks slightly transparent and is covered with scales. It has an elongated body with two segments. The first segment has eight legs and a mouth.”
Demodicosis, also known as Demodex folliculitis, is caused by an overgrowth of demodex mites, typically due to a weakened immune system. Symptoms can appear overnight and may include a burning sensation, itchiness, redness, and pustules that resemble whiteheads.
Here is a human face mite (Demodex) — it’s investigating an air bubble.
— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) March 21, 2022
This is not a rare creature, but a species living on nearly every human on the planet.#MicroscopicMonday 🔬 + 💭 by @ciliateco pic.twitter.com/Po1550dP95
Treatment for infestation usually involves a cream, gel, lotion or wash containing an acaricide, and is easily solved and it can be avoided altogether by keeping your face clean of oils.
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