I’m a Demodex folliculorum and I’m currently dating a Demodex brevis so I’m somewhat of an expert. Our host is pretty gross and rarely showers which has made the real estate in this area really expensive. We’ve been trying to move to another host but the opportunity hasn’t come up yet. Anyway, to answer your question, we have scuba gear.

I wish Lemmy would grow to the point when these Reddit moments of "I’m a dermatologist, and actually…” happen as usual as they happen on Reddit.

As another user pointed out, most bacteria and other microscopic forms of life don’t really “breath” in the way we think of it. Often they just absorb oxygen from their surrounding environments.

They can be washed away, killed by chlorine (pools), or killed by salt imbalance (ocean). However it’s really hard (read near impossible) to kill them all, and even if you did they exist in our environments naturally and from other humans as well as on things we’ve touched recently. So they repopulate quickly.

There are some arguments that Sodium Laurel Sulfate kills “good” bacteria on our skin.

TIL I have little bugs on my skin :(

I am not a microbiologist. However I do know that bacteria are pretty resilient, and most pathogens and parasites can live for at least a few hours outside of a host. Plus your skin is really not all that smooth at a microscopic level, there are all sorts of little nooks and crannies to hold onto.

Drowning wouldn’t really be a concern for them, imo, but additives like chlorine are specifically meant to be disinfectants.

May I suggest relocating to a warm, soapy box?

Actually though. How are the little guys in my eyebrows going? I need to know

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I would expect the chlorine in a swimming pool or the salt content on the ocean to be a bigger problem for the microscopic life on our bodies.

This is so nasty and interesting at the same time

And we become a graveyard of little bugs

Nightmare fuel, thanks

I used to wonder the same thing about lice. I think it depends… but yeah no idea.

I can’t say I know the answer, but I do know that one of these bugs – Tardigrades – are extremely hard to kill. IIRC one was put into a vacuum and removed after some time. It was either completely fine right away or after a little while.

If I had to give a guess to other things, some of them probably die, yes. Hopefully someone else who knows more will be able to give more information!

Here’s what Chatgpt/google bard have to say:

The answer is: not necessarily. Most of the bacteria on our skin are adapted to living in wet environments, so they will not suffocate. However, some bacteria may be washed away or killed by the chlorine in the pool.