Your face is teeming with mites: Tiny eight-legged creatures feast on our skin ...

Your face and nipples are teeming with mites: Tiny eight-legged creatures feast on our skin oils and mate while we sleep Mites known as Demodex folliculorum, live near hair follicles, including the invisible hair on nipples and faces They are related to the spider family and measure a third of a millimeter  We pick up eyelash mites by direct facial contact with other people For most people they are harmless but can cause skin complain rosacea 

By Mia De Graaf Health Editor For Dailymail.com and Kate Pickles Health Reporter For Mailonline

Published: 22:15 BST, 22 May 2019 | Updated: 22:16 BST, 22 May 2019

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Your face and nipples are teeming with mites.

Demodex, as they are called, are tiny creates that live near hair follicles - including the fine, invisible facial and nipple hair on all of us. 

They feed off the oils on your skin and mate while you sleep.

A microscopic gif gives a visceral idea of how these bugs spend their time on your face: wriggling their eight legs and puckering its 'mouth', through which it ingests oils and skin cells. 

You will rarely see symptoms of your 'demodex infestation', but they can be a contributing factor to skin issues like acne.  

We pick up eyelash mites by direct facial contact with other people – and they seem to prefer older hosts because they tend to have more oily skin.

The face mite species, known as Demodex folliculorum, exist in human ears, eyebrows, and eyelashes as well as hairs that cover nipples and genitals.

A typical eyelash mite will live for between two and three weeks.

WHAT ARE FACE MITES? 

Dubbed 'face mites,' D. folliculorum are actually tiny arachnids that inhabit hairs throughout the human body and consume

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