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Anyone else dealing with Demodex Mites? What helps?
Four years ago, with no history of any skin issues, I developed overnight red, pustules and papules on my eyebrows. Over the four years, I’ve gone to three dermatology groups known to be selected by other healthcare professionals, and have seen a total of seven practitioners. They have said it’s rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, or actinic keratosis. I’ve been prescribed expensive new topicals, two different antibiotic courses, etc. Each visit I hear, “Well, you can try this.”
I’m an RN, and I know my body. I keep telling each dermatologist that I believe it could be an infestation or overpopulation of demodex; demodex reproduce at night on your skin (they live in hair follicles) and most evenings my eyebrows begin to itch about the time it’s getting dark. With needle-tipped tweezers, I can pull white cyndrically-shaped mucous-type material attached to a hair follicle. None of the practitioners have followed guidance from an article on the NIH website for ensuring there is a skin scraping or other method to obtain a demodex count. None has acknowledged the damaging effects on self image that abound in the literature for rosacea, with which demodex is associated. This post is in no way to disparage dermatologists in general, but I clearly don’t fit the mold of the repetitive frequently seen five minute visits to which they may be accustomed. Has anyone experienced an overpopulation of demodex? How was it diagnosed and treated? Thank you.
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Was it Paul Mitchell tea tree?
I don't think we can eliminate them entirely as they are super common. But keeping them to a level that doesn't cause problems is the goal. I have pernicious anemia with autoimmune gastritis as the suspected root cause (seen on upper GI scope a few years ago).
Here's my conundrum...my ophthalmologist saw signs that it could be dermodex causing my dry eye (and I do have rosacea). So he recommended tea tree foam. But I'm 55 and have taken an estrogen suppressing drug for 5 years after a breast cancer diagnosis. So which is it? Mites or zero estrogen?
Which nano brush?
I can't use tea tree shampoo. It dries my skin and hair.
It's by We Love Eyes and I got them on Amazon. I posted a review on there about how I use them. (Started hating the brush until I figured out a way to do it.)
I had triple negative breast cancer in 2021 and was told that my immune system was compromised by the chemo and radiation, which helped the Demodex flourish. I don't know if the estrogen reducing meds would cause what you have now, but if you were on chemo, it's a fairly good guess that it's the mites.
If he saw signs, which would be collarettes, then you definitely have Demodex. The TTO foam is ok to TRY to keep them under control, but to really address your dry eye and get rid of Demodex, there's an expensive eye drop that works. Xdemvy is what he should be recommending and prescribing. There are programs to help cover the cost.
Did your doctor say anything about Meibonian Gland Dysfunction? If yes, that's also from the mites. The Brevis. The eye lids are from the Folliculorum ones. It's the Brevis that find their way to other parts of your body.
Hang in there!!
Yes, I am using Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special: shampoo, conditioner and combo leave in conditioner/body lotion. I have since seen many other TTO products. Unfortunately, they don’t indicate the percentage of TTO. Our only gauge is where the TTO falls on the list of ingredients. And as you likely saw in my prior comments, I am adding 3 ml ( little more than half teaspoon) per 10 oz of all the above TTO products to strengthen the concentration.
Am I seeing "collars" here? And as for the realness of "die off," I have has two separate tiny itchy red bumps (a bit like a keratosis pilaris that can form around a hair follicle) show up. Pretty sure die off is what it is bc I *never* have bumps on my face. My skin is typically clear of any pimples whatsoever, save a bit of occasional perioral dermatitis that doesn't exhibit the same way.
Yes, that could be collarettes, as could the spot a bit to the right of it. What is the magnification?
I was just reading an older post from when this group began and someone posted that Natural Genesis products were good. Has anyone tried them??
I'm in France until next week and have been buying up all the Hylo-Lipid I can find. It's OTC here and costs under 11 Euros and is EXACTLY the same as Meibo, which is $350+. But not all pharmacies have it. I've only bought 10 so far. It's for Meibonian Glands Dysfunction, which I have. The Xdemvy treatment has cured my dry eyes for now, but the glands are still an issue. The D. Brevis are still there, or their dead bodies from Xdemvy are clogging up the glands. Not sure which. The pharma company that makes Xdemvy is working on something for MGD. Let's hope it's as effective as Xd!! But I'm seriously considering IPL in a few months.
Has anyone done IPL?
asheeb901, keep using lid wipes and do try the nano brush. Speaking of lid wipes, have you noticed that they don't tell you what it's really for? They must be afraid people will freak out if they knew. They say to use one scrub per lid, which is their way of warning us to not transfer the mites from one eye to the other. Just tell us that, damn it. If they had, I'd be two years further ahead in my progress.
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