Anyone else dealing with Demodex Mites? What helps?

Posted by medical1question @medical1question, Aug 10, 2022

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.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Skin Health Support Group.

Profile picture for Colleen Young, Connect Director @colleenyoung

Thanks for confirming, @finnbeckett. 🙂

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Lately this support group has been very silent. There is a second demodex group as well but I can't seem to find it. Can you help.

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Coconut oil…I’m 57 and had exactly what you described., I did not seek medical advice as I thought they would think I’m having a physchotic sp? break! So I googled for months and tried many things… I think what was successful was to coat your face/hairline do hairline first so they can’t run into your hair with pure coconut oil it smothers them (I left on for hours ) as long as I could stand it-then rub …rub vigorously with dry cloth/towel. I repeated several times in the same days on my days off and haven’t had any problems since..I hope this helps!

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