Ailment: Blepharitis (red eyelid margins)
Remedy: Tea tree oil
Tea tree oil, melaleuca alternifolia essential oil, properties, traditional healing uses, recipes, warnings.
Comment posted by D Harrison of Eureka, CA, USA on 11 April 2023 at 4:24 5440
YES
Sudden rosacea and blepharitis onset at age 60. Did Keto. No sugar, no gluten. Did liver cleanses. For months. Added vitamin D to clear skin, couldn’t sunbathe enough. Still no improvement. Added multivitamins. Daily. Thought about the chlorine in bathwater being a factor. Bought 15 stage water filters....added powdered vitamin C to baths. Reduced the temperature. Still nothing worked, still had red acne and pustules. Bought new soaps, EWG verified stuff with no harmful chemicals. Lotions. Lots of money... Then decided to try castor oil on my eyelids for my nightly dry eye. Instant improvement in my dry eye rather than getting up 3x a night with my eyelids dried and stuck to my eyeballs....I finally went all night with my regular tears moisture. Then I dug into researching that success some more....Demodex mites cause both rosacea and Blepharitis! Diluted tea tree oil on skin. BAM! Skin cleared. Maintaining nightly castor oil on eyelids. Aggressively now boiling sheets, clothes, hoodies. Daily eyelid cleansing, face, head, neck, shoulders. My facial skin is no longer bumpy, red, or irritated with pustules....it looks like porcelain. It’s only been a week since I attacked this from the mite standpoint, but I AM SO RELIEVED. This battle lasted over a year. Large quantities of mites have been found in biopsies of rosacea papules and pustules. Keep that in mind.
Comment posted by FranklyMe of Renton, WA, USA on 16 December 2020 at 6:23 5283
I am 51 years old and in the last 2 years my eyes have gone from perfect eyesight to that I can hardly see and I have double vision. It started after my husband and I were caring for and re-homing a very sick dog from a veteran who passed away. She had eye infections and ear infections and a skin infection. We also had a puppy and did our best to keep them separate. Fast forward a month and I get this insane itching on my eyelids then my scalp and a few tiny painful bites in my eyebrows that quickly got infected with abscesses. My husband, a nurse said looks like staph. I did a virtual doctor visit and went on 7 days antibiotics for staph. Two days after the last dose went to urgent care for another abscess and went on 14 days antibiotics and Mupirocin ointment. That cleared the infection but still itching, hair loss and my eyesight is getting drastically worse by the day. Still getting tiny red and painful bites, still using tea tree oil and oil of oregano and being very careful with regard to skin injuries. In August I scratched a bite in my sleep and it got infected went to the urgent care the next day. The doctor thought it was just a reaction like to a spider bite and he put me on antibiotics. Three days later I end up in the hospital on IV antibiotics for methicillin-resistant staph infection and had to have surgery. My eyelashes, eyebrows, scalp seem to have no injuries or bite marks but have lots of itching and I can’t see hardly anything. The doc says she thinks folliculitis and puts me on doxycycline. Is not sure if it is caused by mites.
I did more research and found a peer-reviewed study saying if a pet dog mites bite you they leave a really painful red mark, and sometimes mites can cause ocular damage. Also the people who tend to have ocular problems tend to have the mites that cause the methicillin-resistant staph. When the mites carry methicillin-resistant staph they can spread the infection all over your body anywhere that you have an abrasion or breaking your skin or anywhere that they can burrow into your skin or your hair follicles.
I’m seriously struggling here and my next step is to see an eye doctor who hopefully can give me something that is stronger than tea tree oil. I’ve never had eye problems in my life. I have been using tee tree oil 74% to 100% on my face, scalp and neck, and 50% TTO scrub on my eyelids since April 2020. Next I will also be using diatomaceous earth.
Comment posted by Sammy of Nashville, TN, USA on 2 November 2018 at 15:13 5095
YES
I have mites in my eyelashes causing red swollen eyelids (blepharitis). The mites can be painlessly wiped away with a cotton pad wet with eyewash solution. Check the ingredients - you want the kind containing a small amount of boric acid. I use the Kroger generic brand. Your eyes nose and ears can all be connected with tiny tubes who knew? Yes I found some in my nose. My eye-ear-nose-throat doctor approved my use of Kroger brand eye wash in a Neti pot. I diluted it 50-50 with water.
Cliradex eye wipes were recommended to me by an eyelash-eyelid specialist, and they gave me good results. I wipe my lash areas on both eyes, then use the rest of the tiny towelette to wipe the rest of my face. Went to the movies. Returned home and saw these little dried up lines at the edges of my eyelashes. Dead and dried demodex! Only available online not cheap $40 for 24 wipes, so I cut the pads in half and crimp the remaining portion of towelette for use later. I use it twice a day. I also put castor oil on my lashes and in my eyes an hour or two after the Cliradex to ensure they won’t go walking on my face. I’ve only been using Cliradex a week but they recommend 120 days. It contains the active ingredient in tea tree oil but doesn’t burn as much. Don’t get it on your eye, though!
Getting doctors to listen. I started trying to collect samples to show doctors. It’s not easy but you have to try. I started putting them in little plastic salad dressing containers with rubbing alcohol. I bought a pocket microscope with light online for $20 and some blue plastic surgical gloves and I took these with my samples to the doctor. Take care to pick them up without squishing them. You can dip a blue plastic gloved finger into your sample container of rubbing alcohol and pull out a demodex mite on the glove which can be then easily viewed under a microscope right there on the blue glove. First doctor before I brought samples thought I needed psychological meds, but I went to a different doctor and I bring samples and a microscope and they listen to me. This was how I got my referral to an eyelash and eyelid specialist! I didn’t know there was such a thing.
Comment posted by ChristinaC of Columbus, Ohio, USA on 22 October 2017 at 4:18 4799
YES
I have had dry eyes for several years and 5 styes or chalazions this year that take months to heal. I assume the cause is blepharitis demodex mites. I have tried hot rag packs, tea bags, coconut oil with little success. So frustrating.. what finally worked was 25% tea tree oil, 50% baby shampoo and 25% olive oil rubbed on the eyelids and directly on stye as long as I could stand the burning. This concoction got me about 50% better, but when I added colloidal silver as eye drops after the eye wash it healed 2 styes in about 4 days!
Comment posted by AnaBanana of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA on 15 June 2017 at 5:9 4645
YES
I knew a young man from Europe who kept hiding his hands, when I inquired through his interpeter, I implored him to show me his shame was hands just covered in warts, poor thing! We went to the drug store and got thick white cotton gloves, 2 bottles organic cold pressed castor oil. I explained when home to clean hard surfaces with vineger, rub in castor oil, put gloves on, reapply at night, for at least 6 weeks. After 1 month he showed up so excited, nearly all gone, he had suffered for years. I did encourage him to continue 1 more month to be sure to get all the root of the wart.
I also use castor oil on my face and eyes. Drop clean organic castor oil into my eyes to kill Demodex mites. I tear for a couple days because of mite die off. I have used it on my face, ears, nose, body, mixed with eucalyptus oil for face and brows. It really gets red, they hate it, but after a few days, much cleaner, better, pores smaller.
Comment posted by Rob M of Melbourne, Vic, Aus on 12 June 2017 at 21:14 4643
YES
I had red eyelids and was losing my hair on eyelids and around eyes. Add 5-10 drops of tea tree oil to your shampoo. Use full strength organic castor oil on your eyelids and eyelashes, apply with a cotton tip or a clean finger. It kills mites is not harsh. It doesn't sting and doesn't harm your eyes. Put it on in the evening, re-apply before going to bed. You can also use castor oil on your face and eyebrows.
Comment posted by Snowwhite of Kokomo, Indiana, USA on 29 April 2017 at 8:32 4589
In 2007 my scalp started hurting to touch in different places at times, and scalp odor that I had never had in my life. I have been a hairstylist so I know a lot about hair. I mentioned this to many doctors with no answers. I tried so many kinds expensive shampoos with little help. My big problem first started in March 2015 when I had my hair trimmed, that's when I noticed the sides almost gone just a few strings left. I was sickened very stressed about losing my hair. I first went to my internist, he recommended shampoo biotin. Since last September 2016 I have seen 3 dermatologists about losing broken off hair at all different lengths. Still no help. I started researching and I figured out it's the Demodex mites. By now I feel them crawling at night and at time bites. I try to use the tea tree oil which is supposed to kill them but it smells so bad. I just saw the 4th doctor at IU School of Medicine who finally told me he will treat aggressively with Ivermectin 2 doses in 2 weeks of 5 pills. I just took the last one yesterday and it has not changed anything.
I am also losing my eyelashes. A doctor said from compromised immune system and ocular rosacea. I think it is caused by the Demodex mites stopping up the oil glands of the eyelash which is there to lubricate the eyes. In desperation I have put tea tree oil full strength on my eyelids but how can I go with this all the time? I am going crazy with this problem.
If anyone knows anything that will save my hair what to do about this....PLEASE HELP!
Comment posted by Clouseau of Miami, Florida, USA on 23 December 2016 at 8:28 4409
YES
Studies on using tea tree oil against demodex isolated the different ingredients of TTO that are effective. An ingredient called Terpinen-4-ol is the most effective, and it does not burn the skin like pure TTO, especially if using it near the eyes. Pure TTO is very harsh on facial skin so you have to dilute it, and so its efficiency with it. Furthermore, tea tree oil is composed of different ingredients a few of which cancel each other. Check this study at ncbi article PMC3860352. A few demodex wipes such as Cliradex eye wipe use Terpinen-4-ol.
Side-effects posted by Leigh of New York, NY, USA on 4 October 2016 at 15:20 4298
NO
I developed demodex mites in my eyelids compounded by dry eye syndrome. It was sudden and very disturbing. Antibiotics did little. I used tea tree oil for a while but I found that it always left my eyes swollen and irritated. A doctor evaluated my meibomian glands and they had some functionality left. I learned to clean the lid margins (where the eyelashes join the eyelid), not the lids or the edge of the lids, and I do that with a leave-on oculid formula. I clean the margins top and bottom, morning and night, with a makeup q-tip that has less fiber than a normal cotton swab. After 6 months, this problem has been enormously cleared up and my eyelashes have tripled. I committed to washing my face every night with cleansers with grapefruit type salyicylic acid, washing my eyelids, and thoroughly cleaning the lid margins morning and night. It is worth it! No more disturbing eye problems.
Comment posted by Bella of San Diego, CA, USA on 30 July 2016 at 15:18 4177
YES
I was battling with styes for a year that never completely healed. The docs tried everything in the book and I tried everything online. Finally, I found something online that recommended tea tree oil. I added a bit of olive oil and a few drops of tea tree oil in my hand. Mixed it up, then applied it to my eyebrows and lids. My eyelids looked much better within about 8 hrs. After about 2-3 weeks washing my face with baby shampoo, using Rite Aid eye scrubs and tea tree oil in olive oil, am and pm, the doctor was amazed at the improvement in my lids. My lids are still healing up, because there was so much damage...thickening of lids, scarring, redness. But I'm almost there. It's been about 3 months healing time. The eye doctor did not have a microscope strong enough to verify this was caused by Demodex. But the tea tree oil was the only thing that worked so the doc was pretty convinced Demodex was the cause.
