#demodex

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Also I can't believe I forgot to put this in my last ask, but would you consider demodex (the type of microscopic mite that lives in follicles on the human face) uncharismatic? I basically never see them brought up except on skincare forums.

For the purposes of this blog, yes! But that only means that they need more attention and appreciation, especially since they're so dang cute!

(Image: A demodex mite by the USDA Confocal and Electron Microscopy Unit)

[dykepuffs]

Really happy tonight at thinking about how numerically more of my body is made up of cells that aren't "mine", than are "mine" - More of my nuclei are the cells of gut fauna, skin and mucosal bacteria and yeasts, commensals like eyebrow mites and most likely even parasites, which live their whole lives as part of me.

Imagine being a demodex follicularis, watching your beautiful child sleep, nestled safe in the warm depths of a hair root, washed clean and fed by the sebum gland, as a herd of D. brevis graze by on the great plane of the cheek, over the pores where your most ancient ancestors have lived for a thousand generations and where your descendants - Your sleeping child's children, and grandchildren, for another thousand generations - will live. Feeling the pulse of the living earth around you as the sky above you sails through uncountable colours - Light, dark, distant, close, through tremendous cold that makes the earth rear up around you into barrows ten times your height, and heat that makes it run with salt water and oil - but being kept safely warm by the constant beat of the earth's pulse and the infinite sough of its hot breath. And knowing that your world was alive! Had a mind and dreams and a family like your own... How beautiful!

Just a billion tiny animals that love each other.

[microbes-in-hats]

Demodex canis

Photo credit: AGENCY-ANIMAL-PICTURE/GETTY IMAGES

[magnus-ohpuss]

they won't let me tell them about their face mites. they can't stomach knowing their only truth

[glowstiickss]

<𝟑

[bluesky-out-of-context]

[procutin]

Demodex life cycle

The Demodex life cycle is key to understanding how these tiny mites affect human skin. Spanning about 14 to 16 days, the Demodex life cycle begins when females lay eggs inside hair follicles or sebaceous glands. Within 60 hours, larvae hatch and mature into adults over the next seven days. This rapid progression makes the Demodex life cycle a critical factor in issues like rosacea, acne, and hair loss.

Demodex mites follow a predictable pattern in their life cycle: at night, they surface to mate and then retreat back beneath the skin to lay eggs. Their quick reproduction rate and long lifespan make the Demodex life cycle challenging to control with short-term treatments. To manage these mites effectively, it’s crucial to target both adults and larvae over multiple stages of the Demodex life cycle, ensuring a long-term solution.

[revretch]

Excuse you, some of us are perfect

(seriously, they don't poop https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-the-mites-that-eat-crawl-and-have-sex-on-your-face )