A woman found 100 mites living in her eyelashes after not washing her pillowcase for five years
Are you sitting down?! If not, you probably should, because this next piece of news is going to make you feel nauseous, or at least emotionally torn up. A recent story from International Business Timestold the tribulations of a woman who had more than a 100 parasites living in her eyelashes, and apparently, that’s not altogether that rare.
The 62-year-old woman had been using eye drops for nearly two years to treat her itchy eyes when she started noticing a strange discharge and had difficulty opening and closing her eyes. When she visited a doctor, he diagnosed her with blepharitis and conjunctivitis and said she had over a 100 tiny parasites living in her eyes. DANG GIRL. Luckily, she was able to get treated, but her story opens us up to an even scarier prospect: millions of Americans have eyelash mites right now as we type this.
According to a recent report from BBC, there’s a strong probability that eyelash mites live on your face, and they’re primarily caused by our beloved mascara addiction. NOOOOOOOOOO.
The study revealed that the microscopic lash bugs burrow into our beloved lash line, where they consume dead skin and even start tiny bug families.
Are you wretching yet?!
First of all, before you freak out about the possibility of little bugs living on your face — take solace in the fact that they’re very common (LOL) and in most cases don’t change your quality of life (LOL AGAIN).
The woman with 100 parasites reportedly didn’t wash her pillow cases for five years, so that’s a huge factor.
While the symptoms of eyelash mites include itchy eyes in the morning, flakes of dandruff at your base and occasional blurry vision, they are very easy to treat. Basically, deep cleansing, maybe even double-cleansing our makeup (depending on how much eye makeup you wear) is one of the main ways to stave off the critters. Also, tea tree oil is a great option for getting rid of mites.
See?! We’ll be okay.
If we take anything away from this woman’s story, it should be a cautionary tale.
A thorough nightly cleansing, a well ventilated room (if possible), regularly changing your sheets and the occasional makeup break will do wonders for our eyelash health.