TUESDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Tea tree oil (TTO) may help eliminate blepharitis by combating ocular Demodex mites, which can be resistant to other antiseptic solutions including baby shampoo, according to a report published in the November edition of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Scheffer C.G. Tseng, M.D., Ph.D., of Ocular Surface Center in Miami, and colleagues studied nine blepharitis patients who were instructed to wash their eyelids daily with a TTO shampoo and scrub their eyelids weekly with a 50% TTO solution. In seven patients, Demodex counts dropped to zero within four weeks. In comparison, Demodex was still present after 40-350 days in seven patients who washed their eyelids daily with 50% baby shampoo.
The researchers also studied the in vitro killing effects of several different agents. They found that Demodex survived 15 minutes or less in 100% solutions of TTO, alcohol, caraway oil and dill weed oil but survived for more than 150 minutes in 10% povidone-iodine, 75% alcohol, 50% baby shampoo and 4% pilocarpine.
"Demodex is resistant to a wide range of antiseptic solutions," the authors state. "Collectively, these findings strongly suggest that ocular Demodex infestation might indeed be pathogenic and warrants further controlled studies."
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