A 48-year-old man, previously healthy, presented with a 12-day history of intense pruritus in his right external auditory canal (EAC) that was progressing to a sensation of something moving inside it. Otoscopy showed discharge, animated foreign bodies, and an erythematous ear canal with debris and a diffuse superficial impregnation of some cystic material (figure 1). The tympanic membrane was not perforated.When viewed under light microscopy, the strange animated bodies in the EAC were identified as mites. Samples were collected and sent for analysis to the Entomology Department of Londrina State University, and under light microscopy after slide preparation, they were identified as Dermatophagoides mites.The patient was treated with oral ivermectin, successive ear irrigation, and deltamethrin (a synthetic pyrethroid used as a pesticide) ear drops.