Believe it or not we all have horrid little bugs living in our eyelashes.
Yuk!
But don’t worry about it. They are so tiny, less than 0.4 mm long, you will not be able to see them. Being so small they are known as micro-organisms, and they are actually good bugs as they fight off the bad bacteria which comes from the bad outside world and help to keep us healthy. They are, in fact, just a tiny number of the millions of tiny animals that live off our bodies.
Demodex Folliculorum
as they are known, live around hair follicles, mainly on the face and into the outer ear channel. They live head down in the follicles, feeding on secretions and dead skin debris.
Their life cycle is 14 to 18 days and during this time one female will lay up to 25 eggs. The process is repeated over and over as they journey to new feeding ground in the next follicle. An adult male has 4 pairs of legs and at night they move 1 cm per hour and travel onto the skin.
Unfortunately, infection of the eye can occur if large numbers are present in one single lash follicle. This can lead to the lash falling out. The cause of this is unknown but it is more common in oily skinned people or people with less than adequate hygiene. Increasing age will often result in diseases like blepharitis, due to these bugs.
