Eyelash Mites.

This photo is by Stephen Gschmeissner.

Today I learned about Demodex folliculorum, a harmless mite that lives in the follicles of your lovely lashes while it feasts away on dead skin cells and old chunks of mascara. These delightful creatures also live in pores on your face. They look a little bit like grubs--long and wiggly and with claws and jaws on their front end--and they live with their faces pressed into follicles and pores and their tail ends hanging out. A really awesome thing about Demodex folliculorum is that it is incredibly efficient and does not poop (this mite doesn't even HAVE an anus). Lucky for our faces.

You can find out if you have these guys cleaning up your follicles (they are very common, so it's quite likely) by plucking a lash and looking at its root under a microscope. I plan to do this soon and will let you know the results.

Some more nice pictures and information here.

And a National Geographic article related to these mites and other body beasts here.