Eyelash Mites

"Mite repellent mascara anyone?"

All through the month of April, Minnie will help me explore the people, places and things that WE call creepy, strange and downright weird. To be honest, Minnie finds almost everything creepy and strange so having the entire alphabet at our disposal is going to be a challenge. You might find what we discover delightful, or you may agree with us. Please share your opinions either way. Have fun road-tripping the Alphabet by visiting others doing the challenge as well. To find out more on the A-Z blogging challenge follow the link.

Eyelash mites

Guess it comes as no surprise that there are creepy looking monsters hiding all over our bodies. So small that we can not see these monsters, let us take a look through a magnifying glass and meet Mr. Mite: he’s about one third of a millimeter in length, and survives by feeding on your skin cells and oils.

Find out more by clicking on this picture

That little annoying eye-twitch that you get sometimes occurs more often in people who see eye to eye with the common eyelash mite. About half of the world’s population keeps these little critters in their lashes. Except for making your eyes itchy, the common eyelash mite doesn't really do any harm. Early morning itching and irritation is common with these mites because of their aversion to light. They come out at night and mate, lay their eggs on the lashes, and then crawl back into the follicle in the morning, causing the patient to itch. To make things a bit more creepy, Mr. Mite also leaves a good amount of poo around your eyelids. Are you creeped out now?