Free Republic

There are tiny bugs closely related to spiders living in the pores of your face. They have long been considered mere passengers, doing no harm beyond upsetting the squeamish. But they may be causing an ancient skin disease that is estimated to affect between 5 and 20 per cent of people worldwide, and 16 million in the US alone. People aged between 30 and 60, especially women, sometimes develop rosacea: red inflamed skin, with swelling, roughness and fine, visible blood vessels, usually in the central zone of the face. Severe cases can resemble acne, irritate the eyes and lead to...

Scientists may have finally found what sparks the inflamed and reddened skin in people suffering from rosacea: tiny mites that crawl across most of our faces, unseen and unfelt. The new finding may eventually lead to more effective treatments, researchers say. As it turns out, the mites, which spend daytime hours in the glands that produce sweat and sebum, harbor a certain kind of bacteria in their digestive tracts. When the mites die, the bacteria spill out into the glands, according to a new report published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. That’s not a problem for most of us,...