The Prevalence Of Demodex Folliculorum On The Eyelashes Of Patients With Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of demodex folliculorum on the eyelashes ofpatients with Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD), and the impact of oculardemodecosis and ocular surface damage.Methods: Subjects:164subjects were enrolled in this study,86MGD subjects and78non-MGD subjects. Experimental Procedure: All enrolled subjects were tested in thefollowing sequence: Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), slit Lamp biomicroscopeexamination, the surface regularity index (SRI)and surface asymmetry index (SAI),fluorescein tear film break-up time (TF-BUT), fluorescein staining of the cornea,modified Schirmer I test with anesthetic, and finally demodex counting.Results: Ocular demodex mites was found in40of86MGD patients (46.5%) and12of78non-MGD patients (15.4%). There was statistically significant difference with regardto prevalence between the two groups (p<0.01).With regard to the MGD patients, whencomparing clinical signs and symptoms of the demodex positive with demodex negativepatients, there were statistically differences in OSDI (p<0.01), lid margin abnormality(p<0.05) and corneal fluorescein staining (p<0.01).Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of demodex infestation in MGD, suggesting that demodex should be a risk factor of MGD. Otherwise, ocular demodex infestation isrelated to OSDI, lid margin abnormality and corneal fluorescein staining. So, we shouldtake demodex infestation into consideration with MGD in clinical.