The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
Sun Tzu (2015). “The Art of War”, p.4, Booklassic
Demodex life cycle: Not exerting strength while attacking a weakness is a sure way to defeat the enemy. You have likely heard the legend of the Achilles heel: a weakness despite an overall strength that can lead to downfall. In Greek mythology, Achilles’ mother Thetis bathed him in the River Styx – the river of invulnerability. However, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, it was not submerged and remained vulnerable. Despite his strength that vulnerable heel was the exact place that was wounded and brought him down.
Demodex mites are challenging to treat, but they too have their own Achilles heel, which this article delves deeper into. Get ready! We are going to learn how to defeat the enemy by utilizing the opportunity their weaknesses provide: Demodex life cycle.
What Are Demodex Mites, And What’s The Benefit Of Finding Their Achilles Heel?
When looked at under a microscope our skin is a landscape in which countless organisms have built up their colonies.
One of the most ancient microscopic organisms present on human skin is a mite known as Demodex. This little being is approximately 0.3–0.4 mm (0.012–0.016 in) in length and is barely detectable with the human eye. In the whole of human existence traces of Demodex living in our ancestors’ skin have not been lost by researchers and archaeologists. These mites seem to have been our tiny companions since humans first set foot on our planet.
Demodex ranges over their territory almost everywhere on the skin, yet they prefer the more greasy areas (we all love some greasy food right?!). The face, scalp, chest and shoulder areas are their favourite places to settle in as the sebaceous glands are most active in these areas. After all, the areas rich in resources make an excellent place to build a booming populate right?
Although almost all of us are not deprived of hosting these little beings, some individuals do carry a higher population, which can lead to issues. As long as mite numbers do not exceed 5 per square centimetre of skin, they are not considered problematic. However if their populations grow and continue to rise unchecked, they can rise up and cause rebellion and cause chaos for your skin.
Demodex in large numbers can cause an inflammatory reaction in the skin and mimic rosacea symptoms; furthermore, the mites can aggravate issues such as itching, dermatitis, acne, hair loss, thinning hair, skin discoloration, skin texture change, blepharitis, etc.
So, after everything outlined above, let’s explore their weakness and aim for that Achilles heel!
Know Thy Enemy: How Do Demodex Mites Spend Their lives?
They eat! Eating is the most common activity for mites and spend most of their life cycle consuming oils. Beyond eating, other activities on the schedule can include mating, spawning, and sabotage.
Human hair follicles and sebaceous glands are the foundations of their empire and provide the infrastructure for their secret world.
Aside from feeding on the oils produced by sebaceous glands they will also consume dead skin. Hormones, vitamins, minerals, and epithelial cells are other sources to meet other nutritional needs during their short life cycle.
Adult Demodex have eight tiny legs, they are actually arthropods and relatives of ticks and spiders. Their bodies are semi-transparent, with minimal internal organs to adapt to living in the narrow follicles. Up to 25 mites squeeze themselves into a single hair follicle- woah! Can you imagine living in such cosy conditions?!
Imagine that at the base of each strand of hair, and on every pore in the skin that these crowds of Demodex are feasting. Feasting on natural oils and applied lotions and secreting inflammatory substances. As you can imagine, inflammation can lead to a wide range of skin disturbances.
A fun and slightly terrifying fact about Demodex is that they do not have an anus. Yes, you read that right.
They gorge themselves over the span of their lives and when they die:
BOOM
Their bodies erupt and spread the built up waste and bacteria (at least we can give thanks that it does not smell!). This spread is a heavy contributor to the skin problems associated with a Demodex overpopulation.
Demodex Life Cycle: The Achilles Heel
Multiple treatments on the market are currently prescribed to treat Demodex-based dermatological issues. These include topical or even oral antibiotics, insecticides and/or antiparasitics. These treatments are not necessarily ineffective, however they lack the strategy to deal with whole mite populations:
Demodex life cycle:
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat
Demodex themselves keep away from sunlight. During the day, the mites hide under the skin, deep under follicles and sebaceous glands. They climb up the pore shaft to the surface, mate, and return to the skin depth again at night.
Females lay their eggs 12 hours after mating inside the follicles or oil glands-where there is plenty of food to feed the young mites. Each female may lay 15-20 eggs which turn into larvae after 60 hours.
It takes about seven days for the larvae to become adult Demodex. During this time, they slowly crawl up to the surface to mate after puberty. So overall the Demodex life cycle lasts approximately 14 to 16 days; that is, from the time the Demodex lay eggs until it mates again.
This fast reproduction cycle is the key. In the blink of an eye, many new Demodex which plunder our skin resources have matured and are ready to produce a new generation.
And the worst part of the story is their relatively long life-span (which can often be mistaken with life-cycle). Each Demodex lives for several weeks, during which it mates several times to give birth to more than 100 new mites. Fortunately, our immune system mostly keeps them under check. However, in some people – especially those with a weak immune system – Demodex growth gets out of control leading to extensive damage to our skin and hair.
Conventional treatments may have limited success but are extremely hard to eradicate whole populations if they already present in large numbers because they do not take Demodex life cycle into account. Although they may kill individual mites in a short time, the new generation hatch and come to the surface and continue the life cycle, replacing the ones eradicated by medication and causing the symptoms to recur. At the same time, the side effects of using these chemical drugs are another part of our defeat, as they will often impact skin barriers and immune systems.
Well, it’s time to use our friends’ tiny “heel” against them!
OZiDEX Lets You Take Advantage of The Mite's Achilles heel
Actually, it is barely possible to eradicate the mites regardless of when they come out, how long they live, and overall, their life cycle.
But using the right product during a suitable period of time, strictly when the Demodex comes to the surface, will gradually decrease them in density and finally eradicate them all.
PROCUTiN is a unique product by OZiDEX that you can use over your entire skin for an unlimited period of time.
The volume of PROCUTiN is designed to be sufficient for use over several consecutive life cycles of Demodex mites. The product-specific instruction teaches you how to use the Demodex life cycle to eliminate them. This protocol is one of the most complete and valuable Demodex removal instructions.
PROCUTiN is not a medicine but a natural and herbal product that is harsh with Demodex and gentle on your skin. It does not have the side effects of other traditional Demodex treatments.
In addition to the above, OZiDEX helps guide positive changes to bad habits and replace them with good ones. This approach strengthens your immune system, and turns your body into a hostile environment for the mites to thrive.
We will accompany you until there are no significant eggs to hatch and no adult Demodex to lay eggs.
I would like more information about this product. I have been battling this skin condition for more the 5 years! At first my nurse practitioner told me they were bug bites and to check for bedbugs. I did and the best I could come up with was a possible parasitic biting nat that came from my garden. My doctor did a biopsy and found no cancer so he treated me for scabies because I had it all over my body. I tried treatment 2 times and of course nothing helped. I waited 3 more months and got in with a dermatologist who just so happen to be teaching a group of students that day and they finally came close to a diagnosis. They all agreed that I indeed had plaque psoriasis gave me a tinny tiny little tube of some kind of cream and sent me on my way. That was it! No follow up, nothing! Needless to say that cream didn’t cover my hands much less my body and it didn’t work. When I followed up with my doctor he gave me a script for the same tube of cream but no refills. Well I lost all faith in doctors period! Haven’t seen one since! Now I have had to be my own doctor. As my own doctor I can attest that I have pulled hundreds and hundreds of these creatures out of my skin with tweezers and fingernails. Almost impossible to see but I feel them. They are mainly on my face and back(*I have very long hair) and it’s not as bad as it once was but I am at the end of my rope in this battle! Please can you offer me hope? I don’t do pharmaceuticals, I want something all natural. Your product sounds promising for me! I am desperate for relief! Can you help me?
Hi Mary and sorry for the very late reply.
I think someone was in contact with you, but it was necessary to answer you here too. Our anti-Demodex sprays are all-natural. You can use it for your skin, scalp, and personal items like pillowcases, tombs, and so on. You can get more data about Procutin here. If you had any questions, please feel free to contact us.