Association of diabetes, lash loss, and Staphylococcus aureus with infestation of eyelids by Demodex folliculorum (Acari: Demodicidae).

Six eyelashes, three from the upper lid and three from the lower lid, were epilated from 256 subjects and examined for Demodex. D. folliculorum (Simon) was found in 16% of the subjects. Mites were more abundant in older persons and in persons with diabetes. Mites also were associated with a scarcity of lashes in the lower lid. Hierarchical log-linear analysis showed that the associations of greater mite abundance with diabetes and with madarosis were independent of age. The 43 persons from whose lid margins Staphylococcus aureus was cultured seemed to have been more likely to have two or more mites than those without S. aureus (11.6 versus 5.2%), although this difference fell short of statistical significance (P = 0.125).