ABSTRACT
Purpose
To compare corneal in-vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) findings in patients with seborrheic blepharitis with healthy controls and to evaluate the correlation with the Demodex load.
Methods
Sixty-two Demodex positive seborrheic blepharitis patients and 24 controls were included. Four eyelashes from each eye were examined. The median value of Demodex count (5 mites/eye) was assigned as the cutoff value to create low and high Demodex infestation subgroups. Corneal nerve parameters (fiber length;CNFL, fiber density;CNFD, branch length;CNBL, branch density;CNBD) and dendritic cell density (DCD) were analyzed by IVCM for all participants.
Results
The mean DCD of eyes in low (37.62 ± 25.18 cells/mm2) and high (76.00 ± 44.00 cells/mm2) Demodex load groups were significantly higher than those in the control group (14.25 ± 2.68 cells/mm2) (p < .001). CNFL, CNFD, CNBL and CNBD were significantly lower in low and high Demodex groups compared to controls (p < .001).
Conclusions
Demodex positive seborrheic blepharitis patients showed significantly reduced density of corneal nerves and elevated DCD levels.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.