★★★★★
Here is a good article on the matter:
https://eyesoneyecare.com/resources/the-ultimate-guide-to-demodex-blepharitis/
Solution:
Dessert Essense Tea Tree Oil Fish Wash 1-2x a day on face around eyelashes (keep eyes closed) and other hair places on face like eye brows. Mites will live there too!
For the first few weeks - wipe eyes 3-4 x a day with Wet ones wipes - YOU MUST GET THE ONES WITH Benzalkonium Chloride - dont use long term, but will help kill the mites (the red pack wet ones have as not all wet ones have this in them)
Another wipe to use on the daily and great to travel with is - NOVEHA tea tree oil eyelid and lash wipes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0912S6DXW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use these 2-3 x a day and again easy to take to work, travel and use anywhere
Change out pillow cover every 2-3 days
Wash your dog with Mite shampoo killer 1-2x a week
Do a search on the internet on Blepharitis, Demodex mites and you will see some forums that really go into it and more solutions. If you dont kill the mites (or subdue them as we all have the mites) you will keep getting itchy eyes, crust when you wake up and worse, ... styes!!!
★★★★★
Benzalkonium chloride is the active ingredient in some antibacterial wipes.
Borax and Peroxide
Update after many years I moved through Zinc Pyrithione as an adjunct realizing that my Rosacea was also Dermatisis of sorts.
However now I have discovered the ultimate maintenence Treatment: Zinc Oxide applied at night as a Face Cream. I get the most 'natural' without any addition ingredients that you can find highest SPF Sun Screen. I discovered this accidentally during tha pandemic when the Mask would cover my face so I left a layer of Beach Clown Zinc Oxide on my Face all day. I find this so amazingly soothing for my Skin. I haven't used Cortisone even as an emergency in years. I do try to get it out of my eyes though. IT does tend to migrate while sleeping!
Borax and Peroxide
★★★★★
I added borax to peroxide until saturated and added to a spray bottle.
I kept my eyes closed when misting and, after waiting a minute or two, blinked to just let the tiniest amount into my eyes. It stung a lot! Even more than diluted tea tree oil or ACV. I repeated the misting several times on the first day.
By the second day the red, rough eczema I had around my eyes was healing. It was lighter in color and no longer scaly. My eyes didn't itch, so I used the Borax & Peroxide spray 2 or 3 times but avoided getting any in my eyes.
Today is the third day since I started the Borax & Peroxide spray and I haven't felt the need to use it at all today. There is no itching and my skin is continuing to heal. I'm using a salve (cocoa butter & beeswax) to help heal my skin and wiping my lash line with micellar water with a few drops of tea tree oil added.
So, I would say this is very effective but if your blepharitis is severe like mine was, it is also very intense! It stung my skin where I had eczema and it stung my eyes so much that I made sure I was sitting down and had a towel handy in case I couldn't handle it.
I wonder if it would work just as well if you could keep your eye closed tight or add a lesser amount of borax to peroxide. I would recommend being gentle and taking it slow, especially if your blepharitis is severe.
Antifungal
thank you,
Patsy
Antifungal Cream
Hand Wipes
Antifungal
★★★★★
Clotrimazole and Betamethasone Dipropionate Crean 1%/0.05% has CURED my blepharitis! I've waited a couple months to post this because I wanted to be 100% sure it was not going to come back, and I can confidently say I am completely CURED. I wanted to make a fresh post so it could be seen clearly, because this is really really important for anyone looking for a cure. Not just a treatment of symptoms, but a real CURE! It is possible your blepharitis could also be caused by the same fungus. It is a fungus we all have on our skin but it can get out of balance. My husbands ear infections were caused by this same fungus imbalance, and this cream has cured his ear infections also. It seems doctors always think "bacteria", and only one doctor has ever considered "fungus". Thank goodness he did, because now we are both cured of our chronic infections. Please do yourself a favor and try this if you are fighting blepharitis, or other infections. This cream is also treating the crusting and cracking behind my ears, and inside my nose. I use the tiniest tiniest amount on a qtip and the results are so rapid and major even after the first use. I also put on lotion or my homemade olive oil beeswax salve afterwards to keep the skin moist and aid in the healing process. It also seems to help spread the medication. I hope this cures someone else! Not helps, but cures! If it works for you too spread the word, I couldn't be a happier person. Blepharitis is torture. If by chance it stops working for me, I will be sure to delete this and update, but as long as this post is up with no update, you know I am doing fine:)!
★★★★★
Turpentine Baths
Turpentine Baths
I've been reading a medical book about blepharitis called TR. Awf. OPHTH. Soc., vol. 65, published in 1967 DEMODEX FOLLICULORUM BLEPHARITIS
After reading this doctor's research, I am thoroughly GROSSED OUT. To put it blatantly, microscopic worms/parasites are burrowing into your eye lid glands to feed. They over populate and cause the symptoms your doctor casually calls “dry eye”. No… It's a worm! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demodex
The author, Tullos 0. Coston, M.D. states:
The fastest and most direct method for killing demodex mites is for the ophthalmologist to apply one of the following diluted solutions to the lid margins as described in the discussion on detection. After five or ten minutes, applied again, destroying the emerging mites. Actually many agents would kill the partially exposed organisms instantly (turpentine, D.M.S.O., benzine, acetone, chloroform, camphor, ethyl acetate, iodine, spirits of ammonia, to name only a few). The above treatment should be repeated weekly for three weeks, together with cotton applicator cleansing twice daily. From the book – TR. Awf. OPHTH. Soc., vol. 65,1967 page 388.
Understanding this doctor's research, I now understand why the turpentine baths with eye compress were working so well. To successfully treat blepharitis, you must wash your face and especially the eye's with soap and water daily and the treatment MUST BE DONE for 4 – 8 weeks, depending on severity. This interrupts the life cycle of the mites/worms/parasites. I first chose turpentine because you can obtain it off the shelf or online for a few dollars as opposed to a doctor's visit and them not really doing anything for me.
Now, I realize why my grandmother had a turpentine soap bar at home. I've been using tea tree oil soap on my face and eyes in an attempt to prevent a relapse of blepharitis. So far it's working.
Now… The #1 reason for Blepharitis?
According to the author, A frequent common denominator in appreciable Deilodex infestation is the failure to use soap on the face; so an essential step in treatment is careful face washing with soap. In my experience, 30 percent of patients with lid demodeces used no soap on the face, while only 6 per cent of those without demodeces avoided soap. The mite dearly likes grease (the oil sebum in your pores, that is it's food) and the use of facial creams and no soap promote its welfare. Cited by Ayers, S. Jr., Pityriasis folliculorum (Demodex), Arch. Dermat. u. Syph., 21:19-24,1930; Demodectic eruptions (demodicidosis) in the human, Arch. Dermat., 83: 816,1961
TIIE VICIOUS CIRCLE use of cosmetic creams for "cleansing" and avoidance of soap and water ("My face is so dry")
which leads to:
favors the growth of the Demodex (it normally lives on sebum)
this leads to:
which results in follicular scaling and plugging, sensations of itching or burning and feeling of roughniess
this leads to:
which causes the patient and her cosmetic counselor to conclude that her skin is too dry, to tolerate soap
which leads to further… My face is so dry
You have now laid the groundwork for a demodex mite infestation….
The Babylonians were the one ones who invented soap at 2800 B.C. In ancient Egypt, a medical document called the Ebers Papyrus described a recipe including animal and vegetable fats and alkaline salts from wood ash were used for washing the body to rid it of parasites on the skin. The understanding of soap's benefits to fight infection and promote healing grew through several events of the 19th and 20th Centuries. During the Crimean War in the 1850s, Florence Nightingale, credited with the evolution of modern nursing, stressed the importance of washing hands with soap to prevent the spread of cholera.
Now get up from your computer and go wash your face and eyes with soap and water.
Antifungal Cream
★★★★★
I've suffered for a decade with chronic severe blepharitis. 4 doctors in a row just believing that was so. 5 different prescription antibiotic creams tried, worked for short times, but failed and even made it worse long term. 50 different home remedies, you name it, I've probably tried it, bought it, or made it. The last 2 years I settled on using my homemade beeswax and essential oil salve for the most relief I could get. I gave up on everything else. All my eyelashes are gone, and I'm always miserable, wearing sunglasses. My "blepharitis" is not only in my eyes but also gets in my eyebrows and a new but similar issue began behind my ears a few months ago.
My husband has had recurring ear infections most of his life and crusting around ears and nose. He keeps going to the doc, getting antibiotics, and the ear infections just keep coming back, sometimes worse than before. But, this time he went to a new doctor, and this doctor had a new diagnosis. He said it's not a bacteria infection, but an overgrowth of a fungus that is already naturally on our skin. He and sent him home with Clotrimazole and Betamethasone Cream USP 1%/0.05% and Ketoconazole shampoo. I watched my husband's ear infections and skin issues disappear in just a few days and then I tried some of the prescription cream for myself.
I put on an extremely thin application of the cream behind my ears, in my eyebrows, and then just barely wiped my eyes with what was left on my fingers. I felt a deep itching and slight burning for the next several hours behind my ears. The next day, already feeling much less inflammation, I did a 2nd application the same way, and I felt layers of skin rubbing off behind my ears, but it was not painful and the skin underneath was not inflamed. That night I did a 3rd application and the peeling was done, the skin felt clean, and the healing was remarkable! I no longer felt any new crusts and goops developing in my eyes either. The thick leathery feeling skin started to feel softer and today I woke up and did not even feel a need to wash my eyes. The skin feels completely clean and new. My husband keeps remarking about how my eyes don't look red or puffy anymore.
This anti-fungal prescription cream has cleared up everything and put healing in turbo mode! For real!? Even the "blepharitis" I've been suffering with for a decade!? Have I been misdiagnosed with blepharitis all this time? Have I been treated for bacteria growth when it was fungus this entire time? It seems like once one doctor told me I had blepharitis, every doctor after that just believed it and didn't consider anything else. I've never even heard a doctor consider fungus as a cause. I believe I have found my answer to my "blepharitis". They say they don't know what causes blepharitis, they just think it's bacteria. Well, it appears to be a fungus in my case.
I pray this continues to work. I've had products help for a time and then stop working. This time it seems to be doing more than just helping though. It seems to be actually curing. If this does stop working I will be sure to come on here and update this. But for right now, I had to let you all know. Ask your doctor about the possibility of fungus overgrowth. I have suffered for way too long, tried way too many medications, and spent way too much time and money trying to figure this out. I hope this can help someone else.
★★★★★
Take a 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) and mix with small glass of boiled water that has recently cooled. Dip a cottonwool bud into the solution and scrub the edges of both upper and lower lids. This should be done at least once, at night-time and if possible, in the morning too. Remember treatment can sometimes take 2 or 3 weeks to work, so perservere!!
Calendula, Baby Wash
Eucalyptus and Lemongrass
Tea Tree Oil, Baby Shampoo
★★★★★
I made this for my Aunt (86) to treat her blepharitis and got great results. I have also used pine turpentine gum spirits (Diamond G Brand) diluted down to 1% on myself with good results too.
You will need:
- Tea tree oil (USP grade)
- Baby shampoo (hypoallergenic, no tears)
- Travel-size bottle
Instructions:
* Rinse and clean travel-size bottle
* Insert 1 part tea tree oil to 3 parts baby shampoo
* Gently shake the bottle to blend the oil and shampoo
* Scrub affected eyelid margins for 20 seconds
* Rinse eyelids with warm water. Please ensure the treatment is completely rinsed from lids
* Repeat treatment every day (I do it in the shower) for the next 30 days for good results.
★★★★★
★★★★☆
Apple Cider Vinegar
.
Honey
★★★★★
Herbs
★★★★★
Hand Wipes
Hand Wipes
★★☆☆☆
HOWEVER, I have since learned that the active ingredient in the wipes that kills the Blepharitis, Benzalkonium Chloride, is believed to be damaging to the eyes in 7 different ways. Consumers who are using eye drops, OTC and RX, and or wet o n e's on a daily basis for long periods are often unaware of the ocular surface risks.
The studies are here:
https://www.dryeyeshop.com/pages/the-bak-list-of-shame
I am also on the Fuch's Corneal Dystrophy blog and learned from posts there that BAK is harmful for those with Corneal Dystrophy.
More personal research needs to be done to determine how injurious BAK can be.
Bees Wax Cuticle Cream
★★★★★
★★★★★
Making your own white turpentine bath
source recipe:
https://gameasphalt.ru/en/skipidar-emulsiya-skipidarnye-vanny-instrukciya-pokazaniya-otzyvy/
This white emulsion contains high quality essential oil of pine resin, along with salicylic acid, natural camphor and soap. It is used for bathing, which activate and clean the capillaries through their contractions and pulsations, is to open the obstructed capillaries. This increases the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the cells and leads to an increased removal of waste products. White emulsion does not increase body temperature.
White turpentine baths ingredients:
- Composition of the emulsion:
- turpentine/gum balsam 0.5 liter
- water 0.5 liter
- salicylic acid or willow bark extract 3 gram/ml
- baby soap 30 gram/ml
- camphor alcohol 20ml
White turpentine mixture. To prepare 1 liter of the mixture, you will need: distilled water 550 ml, salicylic acid 3 g, camphor alcohol 20 ml, gum turpentine 500 ml and baby soap 30 g, which must be finely chopped. Method of preparation: pour distilled water into an enamel bowl and put on fire. After boiling water, add salicylic acid and planed baby soap. Stirring with a glass rod, cook for about 15 minutes, over low heat - until the soap dissolves. Remove the dishes from the fire and pour in the gum turpentine. Then, mix and add camphor alcohol. The resulting mixture, pour into a glass dish made of tinted glass. The finished mixture looks like curdled milk. During storage, it may separate into 2-3 layers - therefore, it must be shaken before use. Store the mixture in a dark place and at room temperature - so it can be stored for up to 1 year.
OR
My Small Batch Formula
Fill the bathtub up with enuff water so you can submerge your head down into it while bathing.
Bathtub temp MUST be at 100 degrees F.
While the tub is filling up. Take a clean empty soda bottle and add the following:
- 20 drops Pine resin turpentine. Increase drops as you can tolerate up to 60 drops.
- 1 - 325mg aspirin for the salicylic acid (it will dissolve in water)
- 20 drops baby shampoo
- 20 drops camphor oil
Now fill the bottle halfway up with water, cap, and shake til uniformed.
Now add this to your bathwater. Soak and enjoy. Unless you have a way to re-heat the water in the tub, you will have to refill tub with a new batch.
Turpentine Baths
Thank You.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Turpentine Baths
★★★★★
I am 21 days into the bath regiment (of a total of 30 days this round) when at about the 10th day I noticed I was not having eye issues anymore.
The symptoms I was having were; watery-red eyes, itchy eyelids, crusty eyelids upon waking up, sensitivity to light, blurry vision at times.
The only thing I can think of that is helping clear my eyes is when I'm taking the white bath, I am submerging my head down into the water and placing a soaked washcloth from the bath waters across my eyes and forehead. I do this for the entire 20-minute setting.
Since pure gum turpentine is an exceptional broadband anti-pathogen, anti-microbial, anti-parasite, fungicide. It makes sense that it would work. I just never made the connection to use it as a compress over my eyes. I am making my own homemade white baths using (Humco Brand - Pure Gum Resin Turpentine).
★★★★★
Calendula, Baby Wash
★★★★★
Another easy solution instead of baby shampoo and a lot cheaper than climates products.
Purchase Garnier Micellar water from drugstore, you cannot remove the top FYI. Add two drops of lavender essential oil, two drops tea tea oil at the top dispensing hole. Close top and shake to disperse. Use with cotton pads several times a day and especially at night time.
This will cleanse the eyelids and lash line and it's easier than baby shampoo.
Older people get demodex mites. Everyone has them by the way!
You must be religious keeping eye are clean with above for at least 6 weeks as there is a life cycle with the eye mites.
See post regarding washing laundry with borax.
Diet! Eliminate dairy. I was using heavy cream for coffee and this made the eye mites happy.
Baby Shampoo
Also, I use baby shampoo and not the typical brand. I make sure it is free of red dye. BB's.
Blepharitis Triggers
Coconut Oil
Tea Tree Oil
★★★★★
Herbs
★★★★★
Chenapodium or Epazote, one capsule in the morning on an empty stomach, or as a tea, for five days of the month.
The second is Cistus Incanus tea or Rockrose tea. Taken as a tea or iced tea, it is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti mold and yeast and a biofilm breaker. It's working for me so thought I would share.
God bless.
Baby Shampoo
Additionally if you have a mild case, you can try this if its demodex.
Tea tree oil dilute one part tea tree five parts fracionated coconut oil (this oil is odorless, and available on Amazon. Its also called MCT oil) in dropper bottle. Tea tree oil kills demodex it's the number one solution unless you cant get rid of them and need ivermection. Tea tree oil is quite strong and you need to dilute. If unfamiliar with it, it has a bit of a gasoline terpentine smell. You either love it or hate it.
Other oils are lavender, but tea tree most effective.
You will take a q tip and put some of the tea tree solution at the base of your eye lashes, after washing face.
At night if your eyes are making you crazy from demodex, get unscented baby wipes and put a splash of 70/30 alcohol in package. Alcohol kills them too. And if you're groggy a quick wipe to the eyes will allow you to sleep.
How can you tell its demodex? If you take a 10x mirror and look at the base of your eyelashes and see those eyelashes coated with white spots those are an indicator. If you wake up with gunk in your eyes, if your eyes bother you especially at night and early morning. If your eyes are itchy.
Demodex are a BIG PAIN. I had no idea they existed except all of a sudden I got monster chalazion eye styes which started my adventure with them. After that the blepharitis, and then the discovery about demodex!!
Baby Shampoo
Baby Shampoo
You can use sulphur soap - Mites hate sulphur. Mind you it's sulphur and has some smell. But not horrible.
Braunfels Labs SAL3 is also commonly used as a calming sulphur face wash for relief from demodex mites, and acarid.
What I used -
Pet MD Benzoyl Peroxide Dog & Cat Shampoo.
This is HIGHLY effective. It does not smell. I use as a facewash and shampoo.
You can add a couple drops of teatree oil. Teatree oil is the most effective essential oil again demodex mites.
You must stop consumption of dairy as this is mite food.
You need to change your bed linens as often as possible washed in detergent and borax. Dry at high heat.
I had a severe case on eyes and head. And though above was very good, I finally got prescription for Ivermectin two weeks apart and it stopped the mites.
FYI Mite irritation comes in two week episodes so you have to be vigilant in eradication.
Many doctors don't even know about this as cause for blepharitis!
If you feel your eyes get bad in the evening then its most likely demodex mites! I know! Yuck but everyone has these but if your immune system is down or if you are older they turn into an issue.
Keep your face clean, demodex love face oils.
Also you makeup feeds mites. If you want to get rid of them ditch eyemakeup. Use only aloe gel on your face.
These can be extremely hard to get rid of.
Baby Shampoo
Sea Buckthorn Oil
Hand Wipes
You will feel itchy most often at same time at night. Close eyes and wipe. Apply diluted tea tree oil 30 70 along eyelash base. Just a little is effective. Test dilution as tea tree oil is strong. Tea tree, lavender are good for mites. Peppermint is too strong!
Sea Buckthorn Oil
★★★★★
Borax and Peroxide
Steam Room
★★★★★
I went in for about 10-15 minutes. I hydrated well beforehand, and it initially felt weird, then burning. I carried on. I left, hopped in the warm showers, and just rinsed my face and eyelids with warm water and rubbed over it a bit with my fingers - no shampoo, not excessive rubbing, and just water. My eyelids looked *terrible.* I thought I had made a huge mistake.
I took 2 aleve when I got home and probably for two days...but noticed that once the swelling and redness went down, (maybe two days) my eyes were producing their own tears again. They looked terrible for a while...but whatever that gunk that clogged my glands were, seemed to be melted. I still use cliradex wipes once a day...but this was the thing that seemed to make the most difference.
I've tried those beaded eye masks, and a million things. I was so desperate. This really helped me so I thought I would share.
I only did it once. I now don't use drops at all, and put some organic olive oil on my lashes at night, but that's it.
Warm Compress
★★★★☆
Warm Compresses Twice A Day
1. Use a Small, Microwavable, Hot/Cold Reusable Compress (A Walmart Equate brand compress measures 11” by 5” and costs about $6.00)
2. Microwave the compress at High for 50 seconds (1400 watt microwave) (adjust as comfortable/necessary)
3. Take one sheet of a paper towel and fold it in half and then fold it into thirds to achieve a paper ‘bandage' of 10” by 2”
4. Run water (warm or cold) over the paper ‘bandage' to saturate it
5. Squeeze the excess water out of the paper ‘bandage'
6. Set you alarm (cell phone or kitchen timer) for 5 minutes
7. Lean your head back in a chair or sofa
8. Place the wet compress over your eyes
9. Place small compress on top of the wet bandage (lightly press the compress into the bandage to make better contact with your eyes))
10. Turn off alarm and use your fingers to hold the ends of the bandage and gently ‘massage' (for 10 to 15 seconds) the bandage from the corners of your eyes towards your nose for 10 to 15 seconds to help squeeze oil out of the eyelid glands
