High prevalence of Demodex spp. infestation among patients with posterior blepharitis: Correlation with age and cylindrical dandruff

Abstract Objective To determine prevalence of Demodex spp. and infestation index (II) by the parasite among patients of different ages with blepharitis and to assess association with occurrence of cylindrical dandruff (CC). Materials and methods Prospective study including patients diagnosed with posterior blepharitis between 2013 and 2015, without previous acaricide treatment, was conducted by Fundacion Oftalmologica Los Andes (Chile). Four eyelashes were randomly extracted from each eyelid for parasite detection. The II was calculated as the ratio between the total number of demodex specimens found in the total number of eyelashes removed. A semi-quantitative determination of the CC was performed. Results A total of 178 patients (91 men, 87 women), with a mean age of 58.49 ± 20.66 years, were included. It was found that 83.7% of patients were infested with Demodex folliculorum with a mean II of 0.96 ± 0.84 mites/eyelash. The II was significantly higher in patients over 50 years ( p R 2 ) of 0.12 ( p R 2  = 0.33; p Conclusions The prevalence of infestation by D. folliculorum is high in patients with posterior blepharitis. The II by the parasite is positively correlated with age and with the occurrence of CC on the eyelid border.