Demodex mites are tiny eight-legged parasites that mostly live in hair follicles and oil glands on your face, neck, or chest. As alarming as this may sound, they’re generally harmless.

UCLA scientists recently alerted a “breakthrough” discovery involving a molecule named PP405 that can “waken long-slumbering but undamaged” hair follicles, according to a press release.

QUESTION: Most of us have Demodex mites living in or near our eyelash follicles. How did we come to acquire them? Demodex mites are tiny eight-legged parasites that mostly live in the hair ...