ANDREW SYRED / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
THE EYELASH MITE:
This really grossed me out! The pictures above are of tiny Demodex mites that apparently live in our eyelashes. Mostly, all of us have them, from just after birth. They survive by eating the dead skin cells of our eyelash hair follicles.
Worse still, these mites mate on our skin then lay their eggs inside our hair follicles or sebaceous glands before as many 25 six legged nymphs (baby mites) hatch into a single hair follicle. Seven days later they become adults then move into new hair follicles. They migrate over our skin during the night, infesting the skin of the eyelids, the nose and ear canals. The adult mites eventually die and decompose inside our hair follicles or sebaceous glands. The cycle then begins again.
And we live with these parasites without even knowing they are there unless in the case of infestation that can result in hair loss, skin irritation and/or acne.
There are believed to be millions of tiny creatures that live off our bodies ~ eeeuw!
This is an image of the tail ends of these Eyelash mites feasting in the eyelash hair follicle:
Worse still, these mites mate on our skin then lay their eggs inside our hair follicles or sebaceous glands before as many 25 six legged nymphs (baby mites) hatch into a single hair follicle. Seven days later they become adults then move into new hair follicles. They migrate over our skin during the night, infesting the skin of the eyelids, the nose and ear canals. The adult mites eventually die and decompose inside our hair follicles or sebaceous glands. The cycle then begins again.
And we live with these parasites without even knowing they are there unless in the case of infestation that can result in hair loss, skin irritation and/or acne.
There are believed to be millions of tiny creatures that live off our bodies ~ eeeuw!
This is an image of the tail ends of these Eyelash mites feasting in the eyelash hair follicle:
Stephen Gschmeissner / http://www.visions-of-science.co.uk
4 comments:
That's pretty gross. However, consider that our guts are infested with bacteria and that we are also home to fungus.
I know, it is bizarre that we are hosts to the most awful yet necessary critters :(
I think they're cute - I'll name mine Leroi I, Leroi II, Leroi III etc... ;>
Yep, we'd prob die without them
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