3mo ago

fwiends

58 comments

Personally I find it pretty neat that as megafauna we are host to entire little ecosystems. It's a calming thought to imagine yourself like some large tree, home to little families of various creatures, bacterial and fungal colonies growing on you. We are thoroughly integrated into the ecosystems in which we live.
They're not harmful, they're just living their mitey little life.
- I, personally, am wholly against most of my DNA existing solely it can replicate itself. So what if getting rid of it is more effort than keeping it? I want it gone from my body. Goddamn freeloaders...
- Pretty much everything looks horrifying on a scanning electron micrograph.
- Thanks now I want to rip my skin off
  
  I hope you're just acting the fool because of tumblr brain. You aren't being harmed, knowledge of something that wasn't hurting you being uncomfortable should convince you your attitudes are wrong. Not that the situation is bad.
  Fix yourself, don't be a child.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demodex
My fave parts (edited for brevity):
The adult mites are 0.3–0.4 mm (3⁄256–1⁄64 in) long. Each has a semitransparent, elongated body that consists of two fused parts. Eight short, segmented legs are attached to the first body segment. The body is covered with scales for anchoring itself in the hair follicle, and the mite has pin-like mouthparts for eating skin cells and oils that accumulate in the hair follicles.
... and ...
The mites are transferred between hosts through contact with hair, eyebrows, and the sebaceous glands of the face.
Ohhh good.
- Wait, 0.3mm is huge, you should be able to see that. I don't think this is right.
  
  0.3mm in length, not diameter. Yes, you can see them, but they just look like dead skin/gunk to our eyes.
  Image1
  Image2
  Image3
  Gallery with visible accumulation of mites on hairs
  
  Maybe we do see them, but mistake them for bits of skin or dirt.
  
  Agreed. 1/64th of an inch is .016". An average human hair is .003" in diameter, that would be as long as five hairs wide. You wouldn't even need a magnifier to see the largest ones.
  
  Combine the size with the fact that they are semi transparent and live in hair follicles and sebaceous glands, both of which are essentially under the skin, and that's why you don't generally see them.
- 3⁄256
  Who uses inches at this scale? I mean, really, Wikipedia.
  "Hand me my 1/256th inch ruler." --nobody
  
  I learned recently that machinists used to use fractions to indicate tolerance, like a dimension given as 5/16 could be ±1/32 of an inch, because anything less than 9/32 would round to 4/16, and anything more than 11/32 to 6/16.
- 3⁄256
  Please don't let the Amish at my work know that such small increments of size exist. They'll ask me to cut my trim to that level of tolerance
- This is why it's okay to make out with randos at parties and such. You get mono for 6 months plus accretion of zillions of new friends.
- Fitting username :P
  Although tbh they look kinda cute!
- mouthparts
  Josh & Chuck just got a tingle down their spines

Found out about these when I was a kid. I was thrilled. When I was very little, my mom owned a grooming shop, and I basically had 1 million pets. Then she closed down, and we just had our dog and a cat. Weird little 5 year old me loved the idea that I had thousands of little pets that's slept on my face and came out to play while I slept
- That's the best possible reaction to this :)
  
  I will admit that since I've started wearing glasses, my eyes often burn really badly (I don't know if they're related or just weird timing), and I sometimes wonder if my little friends are pissed about the change and getting into my eyes. Lol

that picture is actually a cute silk worm: https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.32CF9LC

Looks just like me if I don't shave. :3
- Don't shave /jk
  
  it's too late midterms are here and now i'm a demodex

Little homies up in there cleaning things and living their best lives. I ain't mad at that.
Besides, all the yeast and bacteria maken good company for them, so it's all good.
- Just make sure you wash your face still, otherwise they build up and cause problems