Demodex

[brd888]

Anyone heard of Demodex infection causing problems?

Found article in BJO:
Demodex folliculorum is found in the eyelash follicle. Demodex brevis can burrow deep
into sebaceous and meibomian glands. Eradicating Demodex in patients with
blepharitis is advocated by some authorities. Standard treatments involve lid scrubs
with baby shampoo, 75% alcohol, 10% povidone-iodine, and 4% pilocarpine. Gao and
co-workers compared the survival time of Demodex under the microscope. They found
that Demodex is resistant to a wide range of antiseptic solutions currently in use.
However, weekly lid scrubs with tea tree oil and daily lid scrubs with tea tree
shampoo were effective in eradicating ocular Demodex.

Doubt I have it though as surely it would have been seen during examination?
Rgds,
Bru

[Rebecca Petris]

Try a quick forum search on Demodex... some extensive discussions of this in the past. I think a lot of it stems from patients of Dr. Tseng in Miami.

Not commonly diagnosed, but probably ought to be. On the other hand, we haven't seen too many people here who seemed to show dramatic improvement once they did treat it.

[Eli]

Of course we did see one patient from England who claimed she was "cured" of dry eye by treating it. Her name escapes me....