Comments on: Everything you never wanted to know about the mites that eat, crawl, and have sex on your face

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:22:31 +0000

What a great read, my whole life I had basically clear skin on my face. The past year I went from clear as day to red clusters,bumps and pustules starting on my chin and slowly now up to my cheeks. My dermatologist has treated me for so many different things from fungal to skin infections. I have used so many creams. I finally had a biopsy last week and the results show and “over infestation” of these guys. I am not sure what it is she is ordering for me, but I will start treatment in a day or so. I am really excited to have an answer. My faces has felt (and looks) like I have poison ivy constantly. It is borderline unbearable for me.

By: R. J. Redfield

R. J. Redfield — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:48:39 +0000

Just an anecdote…

I’ve been getting itchy red bumps on my face for years; now I think each might be caused by a mite dying and releasing its allergenic bacteria. The tea tree oil paper I read (http://bjo.bmj.com/content/89/11/1468.short) said it drove them from their happy homes. That sounded good – I don’t want to kill them in the pores and release their bacteria, I just want them to go away.

So I’ve been wiping my face with tea tree oil every few days for the past month or so, washing it off after about 10 minutes. No more itchy red bumps!

By: Renee

Renee — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:08:57 +0000

Thank you for spreading the word on this horrible secret problem. I have had it for a year now and determatologists don’t help. Tea tree helps a little, but I can’t find anything to kill them. It is very upsetting to see the trail of bites on my face EVERY day and know that these tiny monsters are winning the battle. Please someone find a way to get rid of them once and for all!

By: Susan Courtnay

Susan Courtnay — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:04:22 +0000

Oh WOW! I love gross human physiology stuff! I will definitely be talking to my high school science students about this. I have recently started to suffer from itchy, stinging eyes in the morning with a little crust along the eyelash area. Since I am going to be officially “old” in a couple of days (60) maybe I now have enough mites to cause me a problem. Think I’ll invest in some tea tree oil and see if it helps. I absolutely feel little microscopic feet marching cross the vast plains of my face, even sitting here in the daylight….have they adapted already??!! ARGGG..

By: bunting

bunting — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:15:38 +0000

I have never seen a bug or anything crawling in my bed or on my body or hair
How do you know you have these things? My hair and skin is healthy and I never had any redness or any marks on my face or body

By: James Tracy

James Tracy — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 03:54:14 +0000

…Both species are sausage-shaped, with eight stubby legs clustered in their front third. At a third of a millimetre long, D.folliculorum is the bigger of the two…

Is that 1/3 mm length correct? Seems a tad large – enough to see with naked eye…and we cant have that!

Great article, thanks.

By: bfahrn

bfahrn — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:53:17 +0000

very interesting — great encouragement for me to stop applying ointment to those red blotches on my nose, and “scrub” with a washcloth and apply tea tree oil.
Since I can’t see my own face except in a mirror I can only guess what dreadful sight my nose must present coming at you, red spots in the fore.
Doesn’t bother me as I forget about me, neither does this article. So what? – all sorts of microscopic “things” must be going on outside and inside one’s body. It doesn’t itch on me. I’m sorry to hear about other people’s misery with this condition.

By: Robert F. Davies, Esq.

Robert F. Davies, Esq. — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:21:32 +0000

A fascinating and revolting article. Yes, it made me feel itchy! It is very interesting to think that there may be some common skin conditions (or other illnesses) that may be treatable if these little creatures are carefully examined and understood. Perhaps like curing stomach ulcers by treating bacterial imbalance. Who knows?

By: Giligain

Giligain — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 03:24:14 +0000

The older you get, more likely to have mites? Is this why Grandpa smelled like, well, grandpa?

By: Katkinkate

Katkinkate — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:57:25 +0000

What about alcohol or methylated spirits? When I did animal collecting (invertebrates only) for a uni course we used ethanol to quickly kill and preserve our samples in the field. Could a quick ethanol, isopropanol or metho wipe kill off enough to prevent the problems that seem to come from overgrowth of the population?