Comparative Lid Flora in Anterior Blepharitis

Authors: DESTAN NİL KULAÇOĞLU, AHMET ÖZBEK, HAKAN USLU, FİKRETTİN ŞAHİN, GÜLAY GÜLLÜLÜ, İBRAHİM KOÇER, YUNUS KARABELA

Abstract: The microbiologic lid flora evaluations of 117 patients with anterior blepharitis were compared with those of 52 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The sampled bacterial cultures were identified according to standard conventional techniques and fatty acid profiles by the Microbial Identification System (MIS). Chi-square and difference between two percentage Z tests were used for the statistical analyses. The most commonly isolated organisms were Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Propionibacterium acnes and mixed skin flora (diphtheroid rods, Neisseria spp. and Streptococcus viridans). The variability of aerobic bacteria between the patients and the control group was found to be statistically significant (P<0.001). Prevotella spp., Escherichia. coli, Proteus mirabilis, Neisseria sicca, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas auriginosa, Fusobacterium spp., Bacteroides spp., Staphylococcus lugdunensis, Neisseria elongata and Corynebacterium diphtheriae were found in decreasing order. P. acnes, not found in the control group, was the most commonly isolated anaerobic bacteria (P<0.05). The Corynebacterium spp., Acinetobacter, and Moraxella spp. reported in the literature were not observed in our samples. The differences between the studies may be due to the nature of the endemic flora and to the number of patients studied. Patients with anterior blepharitis are more likely to have normal skin flora on their lids and in greater quantity than the controls. Therefore, the presence of these species may contribute to the occurrence of blepharitis.

Keywords: Blepharitis, lid flora.

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