American researchers have looked into the prevalence of mites called Demodex. According to them, these little animals would be more comfortable on the faces of adults than on those of adolescents.
Demodex is not a brand of condoms or household appliances but a kind of mite species that live on our faces. A recent study published in Plos One shows that all adults live permanently with these little animals.
Less prevalence among young people
The mites that inhabit the eyelashes, eyebrows and hair of humans have long been known. But biologists from Raleigh University in North Carolina (United States) have just confirmed hypotheses according to which these microbes prefer the faces of adults. “The surprise is that they seem to be in almost all adults, while they are rare if not totally absent in young people,” says Rob Dunn, co-author of the study at Huffington Post. In fact, the prevalence among young people under 18 is 5.8% against 14% among adults.
To arrive at these results, the researchers looked at skin samples from 253 adults and gathered previous data from ten 18-year-olds. They found that Demodex’s DNA is 100% present in adult skin and more specifically in sebum, a protective layer, which gives the skin a shiny appearance and can cause pimples or other blemishes to appear. . The study authors also found that the presence of Demodex is found in all adult human cadavers.
65 different species
Demodex brings together more than 65 species. The best known are demodex folliculorum and demoex brevis. These arachnids have eight legs and are two tenths of a millimeter long. They find refuge in the hair, eyelashes, eyebrows and feed on our sebum and our dead cells. During their lifetime, these mites accumulate toxic waste that they release when they die. This can cause irritation or red patches on the skin. Scientists estimate that the presence of these specimens in a face, in terms of quantity, can reach several millions. Difficult, therefore, to get rid of it. However, they remain completely harmless to humans, as they are controlled by the immune system.
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