~springrain

this is something i have known forever... but my daughter just found out today and about freaked out! *laugh*

the "bug" in question is actually a microscopic mite that is a relative of the spider. it eats dead skin cells and the like, and burrows into the follicles of our eyelashes and resides there. we all share our bodies with other microscopic organisms that feed off of our dead skin cells, bacterias, enzymes in our mucus membrames and the like... it's symbiosis in one of it's truest forms...

you gotta know my daughter... she freaks out over the tiniest ant... a spider in another room in the house... ANYTHING creepy, crawly, and unseen... *laughing* ... poor thing was was freaking out and not sure whether or not to believe me...

just figured it would be a fun topic to share....

degrawj

i remember when i was a kid and i first found this out. i was freaked too. it took me a while to believe it until i got old enough and did some research on it. go little bugs! clean my eye lashes you bastards!

numist

I never knew about these...

You learn something new every day I suppose. I guess Ill have to take a closer look in the mirror next time...

denim

You won't see them that easily. Shouldn't be hard to find info on this using Google.

We've got beneficial (read: symbiotic) critters in our digestive tracts, too. That includes our mouths. Not everything living in/on us is bad.

ZërØ¢ØØ£

i got floaters in my eye that i can see on occasion, gets quite annoying at times

__________________
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

DONATE TO THE TFP

denim

Those aren't critters, as I understand it.

InTeGrA77

thats a yucky disturbing thought...

but I suppose its no worse than the fact that we breathe in thousands of tiny dust mites every time we take a breath, so meh...*shrugs*

__________________
28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds...

Bivens

I guess none of you ever saw the botfly in action.

NWS or NSFW or whatever your designation for not work-safe images are, http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/wormeye.htm

Be horrified.

omega2K4

Damn Bivens, that is some nasty shit there.

__________________
"While the State exists there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

"Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form."- Karl Marx

Hrothgar

Fuck. I thought my contacts where bothering me.

__________________
The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar.

denim

Good reason to see an eye doctor occasionally, eh?

Baldrick

When I was a young lad, one of my favorite snacks was cottage cheese. And then one night I watched a David Suzuki program that explained how many of our foods contain living bacteria and organisms - and they focused on cottage cheese. I was horrified! I was eating living creatures?!? And what were they doing in my stomach? Laying eggs, and eating me from the inside out?

It took me years to ever muster up the courage to eat cottage cheese again!

__________________
You can be young only once, but you can be immature for the rest of your life...

i8one2

yikers! it has started!!!..first the eye bugs, then bed bugs, germs, and thoughts that without all those bugs living on us, we would die..See a young person's life isn't just fun and games, but filled with curiosities and the need for reassurance and knowledge. And when you tell her that dust comprises in part from her shedding and flaking skin, then all heck will break loose..

Just teasing, subby's oldest had a big germ thing going on when her was a younger lad.. Its kinda a cute, but only because were older and probably freaked out the same way when we were younger.

Kids are fun-ny! (LSP) *laugh*

__________________
LEATHER, LATEX and LACE "SSC"
"Nothing That Gives Pleasure is Bad"

Quality is for those who know
what they want and are at peace with what they have.

"S/M is about emotion; the erotic tension between my impulse toward something and my resistance against it."-- Virginia Barker

~springrain

i'm horrified *shudder*... DEFINATELY not showing my daughter THAT one! it was hard enough to get her over the microscopic organisms that are supposed to be there!

sexymama

My 10-year-old would be screaming for hours -- probably crying and telling me to get rid of them. She doesn't know that I can't solve all "problems" yet!

Great story -- thanks for sharing.

__________________
If you can go deeply into lovemaking, the ego disappears. That is the beauty of lovemaking, that it is another source of a glimpse of god

It's not about being perfect; it's about developing some skill at managing imperfection.

richeee

Spring- you have a cruel sense of humor!!!
I like that!!

__________________
Pas le cri, le coeur de Minx! .... Where can I stare now?.........I did!!!What about You?

Lebell

I was thinking the same thing.

Anyway, don't tell either one about the dustmites in the bedding then...

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU!

Please Donate!

Lebell

Thought y'all would like some more info and pics

LINK

Eyelash Creatures


Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of your eyelashes.
(A follicle is the pore from which a hair grows). Demodicids have a wormlike appearance, with legs that are mere stumps. People with oily skin, or those who use cosmetics heavily and don't wash thoroughly, have the heaviest infestations ... but most adults carry a few demodicids. Inflammation and infection often result when large numbers of these mites congregate in a single follicle.


The mites live head-down in a follicle, feeding on secretions and dead skin debris. At the left, you can see three demodicids buried in the follicle of a hair, and you can also see the hair's shaft. If too many mites have buried into the same follicle, it may cause the eyelash to fall out easily.
An individual female may lay up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, and as the mites grow, they become tightly packed. When mature, the mites leave the follicle, mate, and find a new follicle in which to lay their eggs. The whole cycle takes between 14 to 18 days.
Sometimes demodex is called the 'face mite', since it is often associated with blackheads, acne and other skin disorders (although it is not the cause of these). Demodex are harmless and don't transmit diseases, but large numbers of demodex mites may cause itching and skin disorders, referred to as Demodicosis.


The mites have tiny claws, and needlelike mouthparts for eating skin cells. Their bodies are layered with scales, which help them anchor themselves in the follicle. The mite's digestive system results in so little waste that the mite doesn't even have an excretory opening. So although there may be mites in your eyelashes, there isn't any mite poop! Thank goodness!
However ... did you know that you go to sleep at night on a pillow that is home to many thousands of dust mites ...which help keep our homes clean by consuming the tens of millions of skin cells we shed each day? Just pretend they're not there!

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU!

Please Donate!

White Cluster

Holy shit!
thats kinda freaky.....never knew about that.
Nice post Lebell

bernadette

once in a while my eyelashes will itch a lot & then i always think about the mites & get freaked out.
does soap & water kill them? hmm... :\

that last pic that Lebell posted is <i>almost</i> kinda cute...

__________________
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

~springrain

my daughters are 9 and 10... so i'm right there with you sexymama!

thanks for the pics Lebell... i was hoping to find some on-line but was too lazy to look them up before i posted... pretty cool when you think about it... always makes me think of Horton Hears A Hoo

papermachesatan

damn, that makes my eyelids itch.

GuttersnipeXL

That thing is badass looking! Where can I get one?!!

__________________
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

World's King

Thanks...

Now, I'm gonna go shower for 8 hours.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

crewsor

__________________
We all have wings, some of us just don't know why.

sillygirl

Yeah, that's about how I feel. I'm almost 20 and STILL totally grossed out by things like that.... I'm gonna go take a looooooong shower now. *shudder* and I didn't even look at the botfly thing...

__________________

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly-Rose Franken
....absence makes me miss him more...

~springrain

*soft laugh*... sorry KING... if it's any consolation, i know how you feel... (hug)

hobo

Ya, when I first found out about this I think I may still have been in grade school, and tried to find them on my eyelashes. Stupid me. After finishing senior highschool biology, I learned to accept that there are way to many microscopic things on or in me to worry about and I should stick to thinking about bigger things.

Litespeed

Now that is FUN!
You always have something good to share, don't you?
Kids are great, they always have interesting things to say.

lurkette

~springrain, you troublemaker

There was an episode of Northern Exposure where Maggie got all freaked out about dustmites and covered all her furniture in plastic and sprayed the house, etc...till she had a daydream about a Daddy Dustmite sitting in the bar complaining about not being able to provide for his family because the furniture was all covered in plastic and pickings were lean. An odd show, but they are critters who have to live somehow. Since they're helpful and I don't have to see them, welcome to them!

__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

ChrisJericho

Yes guys, there are micro-organisms and bacteria everywhere. If these mites didn't exist you'd have a helluva lot more dust in your house (dust is approximtely 80% human skin cells).

Also, the dust mites are what cause a lot of people's allergies to act up. Make sure you wash your bedding in HOT water in order to kill the little bastards.

__________________
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows us that faith proves nothing." - Friedrich Nietzsche

hotzot

It's nice to know that your never truely alone. Think of them as pets! Maybe the crazy people out on the streets aren't really crazy, they just have a closer connection to their eye mites.

__________________
The Bully Boys are here!