Is Demodex Folliclorum a factor in hair loss?

Demodex Folliclorm are a species of mites, it has also been called “face mite”. Demodex Folliclorm varies in size from .1mm to .4mm long, it lives in your pores and hair follicles, typically on your scalp, nose, eyebrows and often in the roots of your eyelashes. Demodicides are very worm like with tiny claws and scales all over its body, this make it easier for it to anchor itself in the hair follicle. Female demodicides can lay up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, and as the mites grow, they become tightly packed. When the mites mature they leave the follicle to mate and lay more eggs. Mites have a daily routine so to say, during the day they remain feeding within the follicle. At night, they emerge onto the surface to mate, and eggs are laid into follicles so that the newly hatched mites may feed on the oily secretions of the scalp known as sebum.

 Almost every human being holds the Demodex mite to some degree; people that are losing their hair carry a substantially large amount of the mites in their follicles. So if the presence of the mite is so uncontrolled in everyone’s follicles, wouldn’t everyone be suffering from hair loss? The most prevalent explanation is that some of us are unfortunate and carry a gene that may cause an immune response that is not necessarily consistent across all those who are affected with the mite. An inflammatory reaction on the scalp is an effect the mite has on these people, and when this occurs the hair follicle is killed. The second most common reasoning is that level of infestation taking place is so immense the hair follicle eventually begins to suffer. The mite like explained earlier feeds off the sebum; this causes the follicle to become progressively undernourished causing the hair follicle to eventually fall out.

Beverly Hills Hair Restoration is a center of excellence focused and dedicated to hair restoration surgery. The content of the blog is written solely by Payam John Kahen, M.D., a premiere hair transplant surgeon located in Beverly Hills serving Los Angeles, United States, and Worldwide.

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