Hi everyone-
About 3 years ago I experienced minor frostbite (sometimes called frostnip) on my left cheek, resulting in what has been diagnosed as rosacea. I was wondering if anyone has heard of this happening, and if this is this related to the demodex mite. I seem to have experienced all of the symptoms that can be contributed to a demodex infestation (erythema, pustules, skin crawling sensation, et. al.). I have also been receiving laser treatments on the cheek for about a year now, with some improvement over all, and the inflamed area becoming smaller (although it is taking much longer than the doctor said it would). I still have periodic 'episodes' of erythema, and I've noticed a new area of irritation, near the hairline of my sideburn. I also have what seems to be chronic red eye, especially upon waking up in the morning. I am looking into this as well, although it may be related to a nose injury that has left me with some sinus issues. I am interested in what the 'ZZ' cream seems to be able to do, especially in light of the response so far from the dermatology physicians that I have visited. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
Tom Roberts
Rosacea after frostbite? Need answers
Moderators: Julia, Walter, Administrator
Welcome to the forum Tom
Demodex mite problems can be triggered by extremes like to much heat or to much cold so it is indeed
possible if you had a frostbite.
Best would be that you could do a mite test to be sure but since it is so difficult to find a doctor who
is willing/knows to do this I suggest you just try, I just hope that the laser treatments did not make your skin to sensitive.
Your eye problem can also be related to demodex mites but impossible to tell just like this, first see if the ZZ can
heal your cheek problem, if yes, the possibility is big that your eye problem can also be treated.
Walter
Demodex mite problems can be triggered by extremes like to much heat or to much cold so it is indeed
possible if you had a frostbite.
Best would be that you could do a mite test to be sure but since it is so difficult to find a doctor who
is willing/knows to do this I suggest you just try, I just hope that the laser treatments did not make your skin to sensitive.
Your eye problem can also be related to demodex mites but impossible to tell just like this, first see if the ZZ can
heal your cheek problem, if yes, the possibility is big that your eye problem can also be treated.
Walter
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T.R. in MD
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:53 pm
Skin sensitvity after laser
To be frank, I can't really tell how sensitive my skin is after the laser treatments, as during the course of all of this, I have used things like cetaphil and very mild moisturizers as to not aggravate the problem. Is skin sensitivity an issue with the ZZ product?
R,
Tom R.
R,
Tom R.
That is what I was afraid of, many times, people skin is already so damaged because of wrong treatments that it can be hard to start treating with the ZZ but the trick in this case is to use just as little your skin can handle, even a very tiny bit will already work, in time, most people are able to use slowly more and heal.
I can not tell how you will react on the ZZ, it depends to much from person to person but this doesn?t mean, even you are sensitive you can not use the ZZ, just be careful in the beginning.
Walter
I can not tell how you will react on the ZZ, it depends to much from person to person but this doesn?t mean, even you are sensitive you can not use the ZZ, just be careful in the beginning.
Walter
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T.R. in MD
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:53 pm
Found Two Mites in Follicle
Walter:
I wanted to let you know I looked for and found the mites in a follicle within the inflamed area on my cheek. Let me explain - My son has a 300x - 1200x microsope (birthday gift). After several unsuccessful 'scrapings', I pulled out one of my beard hairs on my cheek, and with it came the hair root and follicle. I placed the sample on a slide with some olive oil (sorry, it's all I had) and looked at the slide at 300x power. Incidentally, 300x is a good power to look with, any more power and you might miss seeing the mites. Anyway, I actually watched the first one force its way through the follicle 'wall', and move around the outside of the sructure. I moved the slide down toward the root of the shaft, and found a second one - this one was already outside of the follicle. They looked just like the pictures I saw on the website (I only saw the long ones, no short ones yet). They definitely were alive and moving! Just to compare I pulled three hairs out of the unaffected side, and did not find any mites. At this point I don't know what it means to find two in one hair follicle- I don't know if that qualifies as an infestation. I did order the ZZ cream and acarid soap yesterday (the 8th), so I guess we'll see. I let my kids look at the mites too- It was a good lesson in biology as well as re-enforcing the idea of cleanliness (LOL). Let me know what you think of this finding.
Respectfully,
Tom Roberts
I wanted to let you know I looked for and found the mites in a follicle within the inflamed area on my cheek. Let me explain - My son has a 300x - 1200x microsope (birthday gift). After several unsuccessful 'scrapings', I pulled out one of my beard hairs on my cheek, and with it came the hair root and follicle. I placed the sample on a slide with some olive oil (sorry, it's all I had) and looked at the slide at 300x power. Incidentally, 300x is a good power to look with, any more power and you might miss seeing the mites. Anyway, I actually watched the first one force its way through the follicle 'wall', and move around the outside of the sructure. I moved the slide down toward the root of the shaft, and found a second one - this one was already outside of the follicle. They looked just like the pictures I saw on the website (I only saw the long ones, no short ones yet). They definitely were alive and moving! Just to compare I pulled three hairs out of the unaffected side, and did not find any mites. At this point I don't know what it means to find two in one hair follicle- I don't know if that qualifies as an infestation. I did order the ZZ cream and acarid soap yesterday (the 8th), so I guess we'll see. I let my kids look at the mites too- It was a good lesson in biology as well as re-enforcing the idea of cleanliness (LOL). Let me know what you think of this finding.
Respectfully,
Tom Roberts
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T.R. in MD
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:53 pm
Two mites for every hair...
Walter:
Check this out - while waiting for the Demodex Products, I decided to do some more 'investigating'-so I plucked out several more hairs from the infected side, and found mites in every single one! And yes, they were always in pairs, just like the research said. I always found them close to each other as well-they dont like to be too far from each other. Anyway still comparing to the "good" side of my face- I haven't found a single one in any hair/follicle I pulled out! I'm certain now that this must be my problem. Incidentally, alcohol will kill them on a slide, I'm not so sure how
it would do in the skin though. I'll keep you posted.
Tom R.
Check this out - while waiting for the Demodex Products, I decided to do some more 'investigating'-so I plucked out several more hairs from the infected side, and found mites in every single one! And yes, they were always in pairs, just like the research said. I always found them close to each other as well-they dont like to be too far from each other. Anyway still comparing to the "good" side of my face- I haven't found a single one in any hair/follicle I pulled out! I'm certain now that this must be my problem. Incidentally, alcohol will kill them on a slide, I'm not so sure how
it would do in the skin though. I'll keep you posted.
Tom R.
Hello Tom
Well, if you find them so easily then you can be sure you have a lot of them and your problem is because of this mites, it is not that because you did not find them yet on your good side there are no mites, but much less and then they are difficult to find by just pulling hair out, better is to squeeze hard and then scrape then the skin of and put the sample in a drop of oil, best to do this in the evening, then they are more likely to be close to the surface.
Walter
Well, if you find them so easily then you can be sure you have a lot of them and your problem is because of this mites, it is not that because you did not find them yet on your good side there are no mites, but much less and then they are difficult to find by just pulling hair out, better is to squeeze hard and then scrape then the skin of and put the sample in a drop of oil, best to do this in the evening, then they are more likely to be close to the surface.
Walter
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T.R. in MD
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:53 pm
Mite density/cm sq
Walter,
You are probably right about the infected side vs. the good side; I know the mites are normally present on humans. My concern was the density (number) that I found in one small location (I know the accepted standard is <= 5 mites/cm sq, whereas I found many more than that. I agree with the testing procedure as well, it's just difficult doing it by myself. I should also add the hairs on the infected side seem to pull out very easily (?). I have not yet seen any demodex brevis - will the squeeze and scrape procedure allow me to capture any of these?
R,
Tom R.
You are probably right about the infected side vs. the good side; I know the mites are normally present on humans. My concern was the density (number) that I found in one small location (I know the accepted standard is <= 5 mites/cm sq, whereas I found many more than that. I agree with the testing procedure as well, it's just difficult doing it by myself. I should also add the hairs on the infected side seem to pull out very easily (?). I have not yet seen any demodex brevis - will the squeeze and scrape procedure allow me to capture any of these?
R,
Tom R.
Demodex brevis doesn?t live in the hair follicles but in the sebaceous glands so the only way to find those is squeeze and scrape.
Yes, hair which the roots are infested with demodex mites come out very easily, that is for example the reason many woman lose their eyelashes, this will become back to normal when the mites are gone.
Walter
Yes, hair which the roots are infested with demodex mites come out very easily, that is for example the reason many woman lose their eyelashes, this will become back to normal when the mites are gone.
Walter