spider mites, not your typical question lol

hello all
ive been browsing riu for a friend to try find out if spider mites SHRINK your buds during late flowering say 7 weeks in?
just cause i dont want to get bashed on by everyone for asking something that's already been asked.
but anyways thoughts on this? id hate for my friend to chop em down while the white pistils are still coming out but he swears they are shrinking.. the infestation is not horrible to the point where the buds are webbed but they are just on the fan leaves and some of the trich leaves but no webbing or hardly any...

thanks !

i've had the little bastards in flower, been a couple years ago
not when you want to get them
i do remember getting less bud than expected
but maybe that was from the treatment
anyways, it sounds like that could happen
they suck juice out, and if there's less juice going to be less bud, i would think