• Dust mites like our skin:
  • Believe it or not, the dust mite loves to eat our skin, especially the skin cells which we naturally shed and which fall off our body.

  
   

• Dust mites tend not to be airborne:
  • This is primarily because they are too heavy but also because there is no food (i.e. dead skin) in the air (unless you have very bad dandruff or flaky body skin. So, we find high concentrations of dust mites in bedding, in clothes, in upholstered furniture, and, to a lesser extent, in carpeting. Jumping up and down on the bed or extensive cleaning may for a short time send the dust mite adrift in the house (giving those with a dust mite allergy a good excuse to go to the beach while someone without dust mite allergy is vacuuming and/or some other anti-dust mite activity).

  
   

• Dust mites like to live where there is abundant food, moisture, and warmth:
  • For dust mites, this often means our bed. Our bed is the ideal spot for dust mites in some of the same ways as it is for us: we like to sleep there because it's cozy and toasty! But also, we as humans tend to lose most of our skin in the bed. And that's good news for our hungry dust mite bed companions. But dust mites proliferate anywhere there is warmth and humidity, not just your bed. That is why when you open up a house that has been closed for a long time, you may experience some violent sneezing and wheezing. There has been little or no circulation. As a result, any moisture present when the house was closed up for the winter has been trapped, producing favorable conditions for dust mites, as well for molds.

Keeping Dust Mites Out: The Bedroom Battleground

There are a number of things that can be done to decrease exposure to dust mites in the bedroom. You could sleep in a hammock that is washed weekly in hot water. Although this is highly effective, it is relatively impractical and a remedy that I don't usually recommend. Fortunately, there are other, easy and practical steps that can be taken:

• Place an impermeable dust mite encasing around the mattress, box spring and pillow.
  • This type of encasing has vinyl on the inside and cloth on the outside to trap dust mites, but does not crinkle like plain vinyl. It also makes you sweat less than with plastic covers. One note of warning: Some of my patients have reported dramatic improvements in their allergy and asthma symptoms after the placement of the dust mite covers on their beds, while others haven't noticed a significant improvement even after a few months.

  
   

• Wash all bedding that is placed on top of these covered items in water over 130 degrees.
  • Achieving this temperature can be a problem in some apartment buildings where the thermostats on the hot water heaters have been lowered to prevent scalding in children and the elderly. I would recommend a pot of boiling water to be added to the hot cycle to raise the water temperature. If it is not practical to wash certain types of the bedding, like an expensive down comforter, placing it in a bag and putting in the freezer overnight is a good alternative.

  
   

• Remove unnecessary objects from the walls and ceilings, where dust mites might lurk.
• Keep stuffed animals to a minimum.
  • If a stuffed animal can be washed weekly in hot water, then it's probably okay for your child to sleep with it. All others should be kept in a closed toy chest.

  
   

• Use window blinds that can be wiped rather than curtains.
• Remove carpeting, if possible.
  • If your children are allergic to dust mites, they should be encouraged not to play on carpets.

  
   

• Consider using products that kill dust mites, such as benzyl benzoate or tannic acid.
  • These products have been shown to have some benefits in homes where there is wall-to-wall carpeting that can't be removed.

  
   

• Hepa filters are also used, but I don't recommend them.
  • These "air cleaners" don't do much. Spend your money on dust mite covers; you'll get more bang for your buck.

  
   

Conclusion

Although dust mites are everywhere, a few simple environmental measures can dramatically improve your allergy and asthma symptoms as well as decrease the amount of medication you may now require. Dust mite avoidance is the safest and among the most effective ways to treat allergies.