What animal do you spend the MOST time with?
I’ll give you a hint, it’s not your dog!
Because these guys live ON YOUR FACE.
Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews with an update that makes my skin crawl.
Or things ON my skin crawl...really not sure which.
We already know there’s all kinds of microscopic things in and around and your body….and
everywhere, really.
Fungi and microbes and bacteria and viruses.
But a new study published in the journal PLOS 1 has now found that this long list of tiny
things includes….mites. 2 species of mites, to be specific: Demodex folluculorum and Demodex
brevis, which are relatives of spiders and ticks.
These little guys have made a cosy life living, eating, sleeping, and having sex in your pores.
That’s right - sex may in fact be happening on your face RIGHT NOW.
On the bright side, mites don’t release any waste until they die, so their fecal facials
are less common.
Unlike past research which found mites on about 10-20% of the population, this new method
of MITE EXPLORATION has found mites on 100% of people.
In the past, scientists would peel off a piece of tape from your face or scrape off some
of your sexy nose oil to search for the presence of mites.
This method is flawed though, because they’re in your pores - really hard to find - and
they’re also unevenly distributed.
Maybe you have a colony living in your cheek, but your mom has them in her chin.
The newer, more reliable method of mite exploration involves similar sampling methods, but now
researchers are looking for mite DNA instead of the mites themselves.
If you’re starting to feel itchy right about now - just remember that the mites are fairly
harmless.
Well, in most people anyway.
They have been linked to instances of rosacea and blepharitis (or inflammation along your
eyelashes), but that’s about it.
So how did this widespread infestation happen?
Scientists aren’t quite sure yet, but we do have a few clues.
(1) The older you get, the more mites you have.
(2) mites have been found on almost EVERY animal we’ve tested them for except for…..Platypuses.
Random. (3) Some animals have more mite species than we do, some have less.
And (4) the two species that occupy OUR pores are not closely related.
Hmmmm….not closely related.
You know what that means?
They probably came from different places meaning they’re probably coming from our environment
or perhaps other furry domesticated friends of ours.
It also means that these creatures have probably been living on us for a long time, providing
us with POTENTIAL clues about paths of human migration and our evolutionary history.
All of that going on in my face and I didn’t even know it.
Thank you, science.
And thank YOU for joining me for DNews folks, you can follow us on Twitter @DNews for more
science updates.