title: The Prevalence of Demodex folliculorum in blepharitis patients and the normal population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Demodex folliculorum (DF), which is frequently found in patients with chronic blepharitis, is a well-known common inhabitant of eyelash follicles. In the present study, the prevalence of DF in seborrheic blepharitis patients and controls was investigated. In addition, the associations between the presence of DF and host factors (age, sex) were analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, cross-sectional study was done involving 500 cases. In all, 6000 cilia from 170 patients with seborrheic blepharitis and 330 patients with normal eyes were examined for DF. Twelve eyelash samples were epilated from each patient and examined under the light microscope.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DF was found in 28.8% (49/170) of patients with blepharitis and in 26.7% (88/330) of controls. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. The overall prevalence was 27.4% (137/500) in all patients. Although the prevalence of DF increased with increasing age, no significant difference was found between the age groups. There was also no statistically significant difference for DF prevalence between males (28.9%; 71/246) and females (24.1%; 61/254).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings show a high DF prevalence in both blepharitis and control patients and no relationship was found between the presence of DF and host factors (age, sex).
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Cumhuriyet University School of Medicine, Sivas, Turkey. mkarici@cumhuriyet.edu.tr
authors: Mustafa
authors: M
authors: Kemal
authors: Zeynep
authors: Z
authors: Sümer
authors: Mustafa Ilker
authors: MI
authors: Toker
authors: Haydar
authors: H
authors: Erdoğan
authors: Aysen
authors: A
authors: Topalkara
authors: Makbule
authors: M
authors: Akbulut
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001762:Blepharitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015822:Eye Infections, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D005140:Eyelashes / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008924:Mite Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology