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@toniacook I do not think this is demodex at all. At this point I think it's most likely autoimmune and/or related to abnormal hormone regulation and/or sebum production.
Mine is in fact Demodex, unfortunately. Demodicosis is relentless and is tied into our immune system. People suffer for years with this as we see just from this site.
There is no easy or quick fix for it like other conditions. It's so complex and has survived within humans through a lot without dying out. In a sense it is our bodies attacking itself so to speak. Dr's don't have the knowledge given it is a part of us. They like to diagnose rosacea and they don't even understand it or refuse to.
Things we eat also can create sebum for them to feed on. I'm going to get back with the Dermatologist on Mondy to see about isotretinoin. Ivermectin hasn't worked. It has to be a strong course of action (meds) in correlation with getting the immune system back on track. Stress also is a factor.
If the immune system can't get right, then it cannot properly fight the infestation or control the population.
You are right that it is with our immune system and sebum. It's a part of it. If you have white glossy/oily skin, scale like marks under your skin (track marks), white eye booger like things, scaly crusty patches with white plugs/flakes etc...most likely it's demodex. It's like gritty sandpaper that won't heal. They get on your eyelashes/eyes as well. If you try to get the plugs out, the mites stick to your fingers, tweezers, or whatever. They are sticky booger like things. What should be normally microscopic are not with a severe infestation.
They attack more at night. That's when they really come out and mate or feed. When you wake up. You never know what you're gonna look like. They go to the oily places and especially where they've already established a target area. They keep attacking in those same areas most of the time.
It's pure hell no matter what each person has. All I can do is contribute my experience and what I've learned. I wish us all healing.
@toniacook Okay, well if you're certain you have demodex (you wrote "Mine is in fact Demodex, unfortunately."), then I'm not sure why you're on this forum and not a demodex forum? Some people who have posted on here may have demodex, however the original post + many on posts here (which resemble the original post) are not demodex.
It's harmful to claim that it's certainly demodex as people who come on here with the same condition will read your claim, go to the doctor asking for ivermectin, and not see any results (just as you have not seen any results). I don't know why you're so certain that it's demodex, but I think it'd behoove you to take a step back and open your mind up to the possibly that it may not be demodex. Demodex is not visible to the naked eye. Even if you have a severe infestation they are not visible to the naked eye. You may have them slightly larger, you may have a greater amount of demodex, but never visible to the naked eye. I understand that you're pulling things out that resemble worms/parasites, but that doesn't mean it must be demodex.
I just hate to think that someone will come on here and start spending tons of money on "face mite treatment" from Amazon after reading your posts. If you want to continue to believe it's demodex, that's fine. We can just agree to disagree.
@toniacook Okay, well if you're certain you have demodex (you wrote "Mine is in fact Demodex, unfortunately."), then I'm not sure why you're on this forum and not a demodex forum? Some people who have posted on here may have demodex, however the original post + many on posts here (which resemble the original post) are not demodex.
It's harmful to claim that it's certainly demodex as people who come on here with the same condition will read your claim, go to the doctor asking for ivermectin, and not see any results (just as you have not seen any results). I don't know why you're so certain that it's demodex, but I think it'd behoove you to take a step back and open your mind up to the possibly that it may not be demodex. Demodex is not visible to the naked eye. Even if you have a severe infestation they are not visible to the naked eye. You may have them slightly larger, you may have a greater amount of demodex, but never visible to the naked eye. I understand that you're pulling things out that resemble worms/parasites, but that doesn't mean it must be demodex.
I just hate to think that someone will come on here and start spending tons of money on "face mite treatment" from Amazon after reading your posts. If you want to continue to believe it's demodex, that's fine. We can just agree to disagree.
Wow. You're serious??? Ease up. I'm not sure why you're coming off that way, but it shows issues bigger than skin or an acne message board.
There are different/various issues within this thread we've established and you're obviously not knowledgeable on Demodicosis. That's on you how you take it, not my problem. I deal with honesty, experience, and knowledge.
Skip the post if you don't agree. It's pretty clear since you're having these issues and it hasn't cleared up that there's more to it.
There's stuff posted throughout this thread that people have tried and sharing their experiences what may have worked and what hasn't. Everyone, even myself, are trying to find that solution to clear skin. By all means, people should research for themselves. This is a place to discuss and offer support/share experiences.
You went way off the charts reaching for something to cause conflict. You said autoimmune. Isn't that along the same lines as a compromised immune system that can't control the Demodex population? It's right there.
Believe or not. No worries to me. Good luck in any event!
I did a Google search of White plug Demodex acne and that's how I found this thread a while back. I read through a lot of the posts before I ever posted. Several mentioned Demodex and a lot have mentioned products they've tried.
We have the ability to research beyond a blog or message board to possibly find out more information on our conditions. We also have the ability to read the posts here and share experiences.
There shouldn't be bullies trying to dictate what you share, unless it's inappropriate. I'm not saying all have Demodicosis on here.
I imagine there's quite a few different diagnoses within this thread. I also imagine that quite a few have been associated with Demodex, even if people don't want to believe it. It tends to freak people out.
I totally get it, however it does exist and happens more than people realize or admit. There's no cure. There's no simple fix for this condition.
We all have Demodex and only when the numbers/population of them increases is when there's a problem. I've posted links to credible information on Demodex and Demodicosis in several of my posts.
I will continue my fight with it to get under control. I hope others get better soon from their skin issues as well. It takes a toll mentally, too. :'(
I have to agree with skin shit, this is something from the inside, I feel like we don't even have a name for this yet! The acid liquid stuff goes around little hairs and hardens under the skin, then quickly spread! Back on that athletic tape - it pulls the unknown stuff under that layer of skin that we can feel just can't see. I believe it also suffocates the area, open air makes it itch, burn all thee above. Keep the area covered! I just want a name for this so I know how exactly to fix it! I'm literally over 25 years of this?
Hello,A
I've been having this problem for a number of years now and have yet to find an answer.A
I often get hard lumps or what I think is going to be a huge spot. However if I squeeze them, as well as popping like a normal spot, the top layer of skin comes off and I'm left with an open sore. Inside this sore are little white plugs that seem to be growing out of the pores. There are usually a number of them in one sore. These cannot be squeezed out like a regular blackhead or whitehead they seem to be stuck in there and the only way to get them out is with a pair of tweezers or to really dig them out with an implement. This of course leaves a scar but until these little white plugs are out, the sore won't heal. I have tried just leaving them to see if they will heal and go away on their own but they don't. The sore remains open and weepy with these little grains of rice sticking out of them! So I resort to digging them out and once they are out of the pore there's usually a gush of blood but that stops quite suddenly. It reminds me of a verruca if anyone has ever pulled a plug out from that...A
I mostly get these on my chin but also sometimes on my nose and chest. I know that a dermatologist may be able to help me but I don't have any money right now and I am on sickness benefits as I have M.E.
Does anyone have any idea what these things are? They're kind of jelly like and slightly stretchy. The tweezers just seems to take the head of them off more often than not hence the digging which I absolutely hate but it seems to be the only way to get them out and once they are out the sore will heal.A
I have attached picturesof them on my hand after I get them out, sorry for the super close ups!A
Wow this is incredible. I'm so glad I came across this page. I've suffered this for yrs, and currently have 6 sores on my face, I'm freaking out as I have surgery in 9 days and they might not want to operate thinking it's staph? I'm gonna get a list together of what everyone had recommended and start finding something that will work for me.
Walgreens ivermectin lotion lice treatment. Kills mites. The folks in here that dont smoke meth likely have demodex and an allergic reaction to them paired with the picking.
dermatologists prescribe soolantra to rosacea patients.
soolantra is 1.0% ivermectin.
theres an entire fb group called rosacea rescue with lots of people using ivermectin to treat Demodex overgrowth.
After 3 years, 6 doctors, Mohs surgery, numerous creams, etc..... you know the drill. I finally tried DIMETHICONE to treat these. I am amazed how well it works after the constant pain and my efforts to get rid of them. 3 days in and it is healing up. I ordered it on Amazon. It works in a physical way, to smother, or effect water intake, of the parasite as opposed to a chemical method. Just like antibiotics, they can develop a resistance to treatments like Rid or Permethrin. I googled "parasites on the skin" and DIMETHICONE came up as a treatment for head lice.
I take a clean Q-tip and dip it in the bottle of dimethicone and wipe it over the entire area. Don't contaminate the dimethicone by reusing the Q-tip. Always use a fresh Q-tip or cotton pad. It did not hurt my open wound. I also use Listerine to keep the wound clean. It does burn a little. I am also taking oil of oregano capsules to combat infection. I am still removing the layers and dead skin to expose the parasites so they will absorb the dimethicone and die. I have these stuck under my skin that have scar tissue over them. Retin A also helps to peel the skin. After 3 years, my face has stopped hurting. As you all know, this has been miserable. I hope this helps everyone. After experiencing the pain, the second most frustrating thing is no one believes they might be parasites.
My doctors kept insisting that it is a picking problem or cancer. Four biopsies later and still no definitive cancer diagnosis. I thought it was parasites from the beginning. The doctors in the medical field never want to acknowledge parasites, except for pinworms and head lice. Anything else and they are absolutely no help. The frustration with doctors has been ongoing and it is ridiculous that they won't listen to their patients.
I bought some silicone tape to help with scarring after this heals up. If anyone has any suggestions to minimize scarring, I would appreciate any input.
For anyone following, I have been continuing the athletic tape on my skin, I have noticed hairs stuck on the tape that our different sizes, different from arm hairs etc. I'm not sure if these are worm hairs or what exactly. After the hair is some how pulled from the skin the itching stops from the inside of skin. As I keep doing the tape that area has a infection smell and I have to keep replacing the tape. After continuing the tape in that area it completely clears up and I don't have any more break outs. My skin is a different feel to it. I have been dealing with this over 25 years! I still have more to go, the infection is pulling out of my body, I have certain areas that definitely need more work then others. At least it's not every single pore of my body stinging and burning
Here is a example of a "itchy hair" that was pulled out from skin! This was from my arm, I am a white woman with blonde hairs on arm. Does anyone else have this
From the tape, I am now having small tiny brown spikes leave my skin. Not sure what is happening but I believe the tiny brown spikes are deep deep in the skin, as it comes to the surface I can feel the sting, I believe this is some kind of tiny root that is a virus maybe? When that is gone, the whole area heals quickly and I haven't had a new break out in the area. I just wish I had a name for this "infection/virus"
@25years can you please share a picture of the "brown spikes" that are emerging from your skin? I have the same opinion regarding there being a "root". I currently have one bump with a small hole. Nothing comes out (aside from some blood/clear fluid), however when I pinch my skin I can feel what can be best described as a "stalk"/root that's deep in my skin. When I had one of these "bumps" previously (no visible plug as it was very deep) it stayed for months and then over time it just disappeared. Hope you could share a photo of what it looks like!
@25years can you please share a picture of the "brown spikes" that are emerging from your skin? I have the same opinion regarding there being a "root". I currently have one bump with a small hole. Nothing comes out (aside from some blood/clear fluid), however when I pinch my skin I can feel what can be best described as a "stalk"/root that's deep in my skin. When I had one of these "bumps" previously (no visible plug as it was very deep) it stayed for months and then over time it just disappeared. Hope you could share a photo of what it looks like!
I will! It is kinda like little sticks, please use the athletic tape! Trying to pull out the root stick thing your self will take months on months! The tape pulls it to surface! Take a bath in apple cider vinegar and baking soda and soak for a hour. You will literally see the side of the tub will be filled of them! Then rinse in the shower with only water!
look up sporotrichosis. Ive been battling this for 2 years and I finally figured it out. Pictures match and everything. Theres a lot of information on Google.
SPOROTRICHOSIS
Is there a cure? The pictures do match. With the athletic tape I been using the wounds do not get that bad anymore, it draws it out, but I can't figure out how to stop the break outs from the inside
@25years can you please share a picture of the "brown spikes" that are emerging from your skin? I have the same opinion regarding there being a "root". I currently have one bump with a small hole. Nothing comes out (aside from some blood/clear fluid), however when I pinch my skin I can feel what can be best described as a "stalk"/root that's deep in my skin. When I had one of these "bumps" previously (no visible plug as it was very deep) it stayed for months and then over time it just disappeared. Hope you could share a photo of what it looks like!
Here is one example
@25years can you please share a picture of the "brown spikes" that are emerging from your skin? I have the same opinion regarding there being a "root". I currently have one bump with a small hole. Nothing comes out (aside from some blood/clear fluid), however when I pinch my skin I can feel what can be best described as a "stalk"/root that's deep in my skin. When I had one of these "bumps" previously (no visible plug as it was very deep) it stayed for months and then over time it just disappeared. Hope you could share a photo of what it looks like!
This is a tiny one, these bastards sting from the inside out so bad
Here is a example of what I'm suffering from, this area is still bad, the pain is the worst part of it
This is a tube thing, when this is pulled out it causes horrible bleeding, this is located deeper in the skin, I believe this is a alive stick thing. Once they die they harden on the inside
Hello,A
I've been having this problem for a number of years now and have yet to find an answer.A
I often get hard lumps or what I think is going to be a huge spot. However if I squeeze them, as well as popping like a normal spot, the top layer of skin comes off and I'm left with an open sore. Inside this sore are little white plugs that seem to be growing out of the pores. There are usually a number of them in one sore. These cannot be squeezed out like a regular blackhead or whitehead they seem to be stuck in there and the only way to get them out is with a pair of tweezers or to really dig them out with an implement. This of course leaves a scar but until these little white plugs are out, the sore won't heal. I have tried just leaving them to see if they will heal and go away on their own but they don't. The sore remains open and weepy with these little grains of rice sticking out of them! So I resort to digging them out and once they are out of the pore there's usually a gush of blood but that stops quite suddenly. It reminds me of a verruca if anyone has ever pulled a plug out from that...A
I mostly get these on my chin but also sometimes on my nose and chest. I know that a dermatologist may be able to help me but I don't have any money right now and I am on sickness benefits as I have M.E.
Does anyone have any idea what these things are? They're kind of jelly like and slightly stretchy. The tweezers just seems to take the head of them off more often than not hence the digging which I absolutely hate but it seems to be the only way to get them out and once they are out the sore will heal.A
I have attached picturesof them on my hand after I get them out, sorry for the super close ups!A
Hi I also have this problem and have no idea what they are but have learned a few things on my own, my theory is that it's a fungus of some sort and a anti fungal ointment usually works... Also spraying the wound with peroxide multiple times seems to reveal them... I've also learned that their also sometimes on your hair follicles also this could ultimately be caused by dexiderm.....
@25years Eh, this is what I'm pulling out, too 🙁
I'm currently trying topical Metronidazole. Will see if it helps at all.
@skinshit I just started itraconasole today, I will let u know if this works.... Something has to work!!!!?!
@25years Eh, this is what I'm pulling out, too 🙁
I'm currently trying topical Metronidazole. Will see if it helps at all.
Have you tried the tape? I'm curious to see what you think
@25years I have tried the tape, admittedly for only a few days and only a few hours at a time (at night) because my "lesions" have never been below my neck. The lesions I've had on my neck are gone (currently dealing with 1 scab that I cover with make up). I don't know what ultimately cleared them up as I tried a list of various random things (I never used tape on those). Here's what I can say: back when I had lesions on my neck, I spent some days wearing make-up (foundation/concealer) for 10+ hours, and other days I stayed home with no make-up on. I noticed that the lesions actually looked better/seemed to be clearing up after the days I WORE make-up (I would've expected it to be the other way around!). Currently, I only have 1 lesion on my jaw line that's very superficial. I had pulled out a few "rice grains" from it a few days/week ago. It's practically only a flat scab now. It's my second day using metronidazole on it & it seems to look better, but I can't be certain just yet. As you know, these things have a way of looking "better" and then flaring back up all of a sudden especially if all the "plugs" aren't out. Will update.
The second lesion I have is on my face with the "plug" super deep under the skin. It feels like there are at least 3 roots/stalks deep underneath. I have tried tape on it which doesn't seem to be working because (1) I can't put tape on it for more than ~8 hours (I need to go out in public) (2) the tape comes off very easily since oil production, etc. and (3) as mentioned it's VERY deep. Does the tape work for you when it comes to the deeper plugs or are you only dealing with more superficial ones? I no longer have any superficial ones with the multiple small "grains of rice" very visible.
It's interesting that the tape works for you, and seemingly covering it with make-up MAY have worked on mine (although not sure how true that is). I think there are 2 possible reasons why the tape works. Either (1) oxygen deprivation is "killing" whatever "it" is or (2) something in the glue of the tape is drawing the lesions out. I read that there is zinc-oxide in the glue that's on athletic tape. Interestingly enough, I also used diaper rash cream on prior lesions (also contains zinc oxide) AND many (if not most) foundation contains zinc-oxide! I did notice an improvement after using diaper rash cream (I used Target brand in purple tube, super cheap), but I can't say that the diaper rash cream was solely responsible for clearing it up. I would definitely recommend everyone try diaper rash cream though as it's a potentially cheap fix - I slept with it lathered on for at least a week if not more!
I have tried oral fluconazole & that did not work for me. Please let me know how the itraconazole works for you! Thanks for brainstorming with me!
Edited to add: The target brand of diaper rash cream is 40% zinc oxide which is important to note as I was previously using 10% and didn't notice any changes then, so I'd try to find the highest percent of zinc oxide as possible.
I am so happy i came across this! I have been getting the same stuff, and it's been like 6 months. Driving myself crazy. I feel like i look like im on drugs whenever i leave the house. Even if we aren't 100% sure what it is, at least i know im not alone!
I had what i think was pink eye then got spots around my eyes that the doctor didn't know anything about. Then not long after my face was covered then my body to follow. There are 2 pics of the "pink eye" and the spots by my eye mixed in the pics.
I lost some of my eyebrows too. I kept saying it was like my skin didn't wanna fall off so it was clogging all my eyebrow hairs trying to grow in. Like one big ingrown hair that somehow was also full of white heads but onr but white head. That's just the eye brow explanation tho...
And it's like the "clogged pores" pop when you scratch them sometimes. So many symptoms tho! And finally im not alone!
Thank you!