​Women's 'Itchy Eyes' Caused By 100 Parasites Living In Her Eyelashes

If you're eating a slice of toast right now, better put it down - this one's a bit rank. It's not all bad, though, as it'll make your mum happy by making you think twice about how often you change your sheets...

A woman told doctors that she had suffered with itchy eyes for two years - only to be told that she had 100 parasites living in her eyelashes.

The woman, known only as Ms Xu, went to see doctors in Wuhan in the central Chinese province of Hubei, and said that she'd been suffering with itchy, red eyes for two years - but had also just grown used to the situation, and had been managing the condition with over-the-counter-eye drops.

Having been living with the itchiness for a grand total of two years, Xu's problem suddenly got worse. With so many crusty deposits on her eyelashes, her eyelids actually stuck together.

Doctors then probed her home hygiene habits, only to find out she'd been using the same unwashed pillow case since 2012. During an examination, they then found over 100 eyelash mites on her eyelids.

One Chinese news website even said that one single follicle was home to a colony of ten eyelash mites, the Daily Mail reports.

Barf.

Credit: AsiaWire

They also said that as well as not washing her pillow case for five years (FIVE YEARS!), another factor was a lack of airflow in her bedroom. The combination of the two meant that the mites had been able to build up to such a harmful level.

The woman was then diagnosed with blepharitis and conjunctivitis, inflammation of the base of the eyelashes and of the eye.

She's reportedly made a full recovery, but by the sounds of it it's not been a particularly nice ride. We're also guessing she'll probably be changing her pillowcase a bit more regularly now, too.

In fairness, she's not completely alone in this one. There are two species of eyelash mite often found in humans - Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis - and some studies even say that almost every adult is infected with at least a few of them, according to the Daily Mail.

But like we said, at least this is a bit of a lesson in hygiene for us all. All those times your mum has a go at you for not changing your bedding suddenly don't seem so ridiculous, do they? Seems mums do know what they're about, after all.

Topics: World News, News, China

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman