Correlation between squamous blepharitis and scalp dandruff

Abstract

Background

Blepharitis is one of the most common ocular conditions for which the patient visits the ophthalmologist. This study was conducted with objective to determine the correlation between Squamous Blepharitis and Scalp Dandruff in patients presenting to the Outpatient Department (OPD) of Ophthalmology, Saveetha Medical College &Hospital, Chennai.

Methods

A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2019 to march 2019 among 188 patients with squamous blepharitis. Data was collected by examination of the study subject by ophthalmologist & if necessary by dermatologist after taking informed consent.

Results

The study shows that there is a significant association between scalp dandruff and squamous blepharitis. Among the study subjects (those who are having squamous blepharitis), a higher proportion of female (24.4%) were found to have scalp dandruff when compared to male (17.0%). The p value shows there is significant association between scalp dandruff and squamous blepharitis among the age groups (p value – 0.007) but there is no significant association between scalp dandruff and squamous blepharitis among the sex(p value - 0.88).

Conclusion

This study revealed that scalp dandruff was one of the important cause for the squamous blepharitis and it is one of the common ocular condition for which the patient consults the Ophthalmologist. Early detection of seborrheic scalp infection, usually the source of lid-margin infection, has been helpful in the prevention & treatment of the related blepharitis.