Is Rosacea Really Caused by a Mite?

by Ben Johnson, MD, founder & CEO of Osmosis Beauty

Most skin education classes, textbooks, and even physicians share the myth that rosacea is caused by a mite. However, with some critical thinking, this theory can be debunked. While mites can take up residence in the sebaceous glands and many of individuals have one or two of them at any given time on the skin of their body or face, they are killed by the skin’s immune system like how parasites are killed by the gut’s immune system, which means they very rarely become a major infestation.