John Cena opens up about 'eye mites,' the tiny bugs causing his blurry vision - USA Today

When John Cena started losing his sight, he thought it was just a sign of aging. But the increasingly blurry vision also came with itchiness, redness and eye crust that kept building up.

The 17-time WWE world champion began noticing that while reading, he would have to read a page two or three times over to even see the words, which was the final straw that prompted him to book an eye exam. There, Cena talked with the doctor about wrestling, acting and a surprising third subject: " eye mites."

Eye mites, formerly called Demodex, are tiny parasites that live in the hair follicles and tiny glands of the face, especially around the eyes. And while the thought of tiny bugs inhibiting our eyelashes sounds rather frightening, the reality is far less startling.

Almost everyone has eye mites and they can play a healthy role in regulating our body’s microbiome. But an overpopulation of these little critters can trigger irritation, inflammation and even more serious eye conditions if left untreated.

Cena was diagnosed with a condition called Demodex blepharitis – an inflammatory condition of the eyelids caused by excess eye mites. He’s partnered with the biopharmaceutical company Tarsus to promote XDEMVY, a prescription eye drop that targets and kills eye mites.

As he approaches a major birthday milestone, Cena is thinking more and more about healthy aging. He’s already spent the better half of his life focusing on physical fitness and nutrition – he started lifting weights at 12 years old, and got his first protein powder at 14.

Next year, he’ll turn 50. The past decade has brought challenges, from facing a “sobering” skin cancer diagnosis, to getting two polyps removed following a colonoscopy at age 45. (Cena says "45 is the new 50.")

“I’ve always been an advocate of taking care of your health,” he shares. “I'm just realizing how many more dimensions there are to that.”

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John Cena ‘thought there was no way out’ after a series of health issues

While Cena says he caught his eye mites early, he wishes he had gone in for an eye exam years sooner. It was a familiar feeling – one he experienced after his skin care diagnosis. He regretted not taking action sooner, like using SPF regularly or spending less time in tanning beds.

“For my job, I wanted to look tan, because tan looks healthy, and you show better essentially,” he says. When it came to his blurry vision, he just brushed it off as a downside of aging.

He wishes he knew then what he knows now, but in lieu of that, wants to continue speaking up about his experiences, like with eye mites, to help whoever will listen. Because for him, it once felt like these health scares were going to last forever.

“I have had like a windfall of those things in the past decade, one by one after another happened to me, where I thought there was no out,” he says. “But you don’t have to just say, ‘It’s the way it is.’”

But he takes a solutions-based approach to his health care. Bad back? Localize the problem; do flexibility exercises to loosen tight muscles. Upset about hair loss? Get a hair transplant, like Cena says he did. Blurry vision? Go to a medical professional who can help you live better.

“I don't feel any shame because of the results. I feel way better because I got checked,” he explains. “My eyes feel better. My skin is better.”

The list goes on: “I dodged colon cancer by going in for a colonoscopy. I thought there was no cure for baldness, and there is treatment for it. All this stuff has yielded such wonderful results.”