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Anyone else dealing with Demodex Mites? What helps?
Skin Health | Last Active: May 21 8:05am | Replies (158)Comment receiving replies
Thank you so much for all the info. Amazingly thorough. I assume you are retired now; what kind of work did you do ? I read yesterday, just from google search, not an "informed" site from university medical or NIH, that 100% alcohol is too strong to put on skin that 70% was best too use.
Re your doctor's position, the Demodex eat dead skin cells which is a benefit, still it's gross to think about. My impression is that we can't eliminate all of them; I hate to think for the rest of my life I have to be doing all this cleansing and inspecting, etc. to keep them under control. Also read - somewhere all the way , I think the NIH site- age , dna, blood sugar levels are some factors contributing to overgrowth conditions, that overgrowth does not occur with everyone. I've been troubled with blepharitis for years but all these skin problems began only the past year or so .
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Hi, 70% alcohol won't kill them, just 100%, which I can't find - just 99%. I don't put the 99% alcohol on my skin, or at least not for long. I mostly spray it intensely on my combs, brushes and makeup if I don't have time to soak them. I had blepharitis and then had breast cancer in 2021, which lowered my immune system. I had switched ophthalmologic practices and the new one didn't mention the blepharitis so I was mistakenly thrilled that the chemo had killed them. But when I went back to my dry-eye specialist she said that the chemo is probably what caused them to go into overdrive. Needless to say, I'll go to both practices!
I'm keenly aware of how difficult it is to kill them after spending months getting rid of mealy bugs in our atrium. People use neem oil, but it's the alcohol that kills them. They are tiny, but unlike Demodex they're not microscopic and you can actually see the tiny white bugs... and watch as they die in the alcohol (it's instantaneous). After a lot of research I realized that they had made their way into the house via me or my husband! If you just brush up against a leaf that has them, they can stay on your clothes and travel with you, get onto a chair and live for a week or so until someone sits there and then brushes up against another plant where they can live happily. They can live for 2 weeks without any nourishment, unlike the Demodex, which can only live 2-3 days without food. So after going on several killing sprees, they are finally gone and now I've got Demodex to contend with. So that's why I'm aware of transferring them from my face to a towel or cotton pad and keep changing everything and washing my hands - especially before putting on clean pillow cases!
I'm retired from a non profit I headed for 26 years that's part of a 'citizen diplomacy' network across the U.S. that works with the U.S. Department of State. Our role is to make friends around the world and by having rising leaders from around the world visit our communities as guests of State to see what the real U.S. is like and form their own opinions. We arranged counterpart meetings and dinners in homes of Americans. (Our guests were members of parliament, presidential advisors, attorneys general, etc.) I also ran Philadelphia's Sister Cities Program. I miss it but retired in 2016 because I was losing my hearing and couldn't hear in meetings. I had already lost it in one ear in 1974. But all this doesn't belong in the Demodex discussion group! Sorry!!