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Visual Treats in Dermatology
2023
:3;
110
doi:
10.25259/CSDM_120_2023

Demodex mite under microscopy

Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.

*Corresponding author: Madhumitha Palanisamy, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. madhumithasriraam@gmail.com

Licence
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

How to cite this article: Palanisamy M, Wadhwa D. Demodex mite under microscopy. CosmoDerma 2023;3:110.

Demodex is an ecto-parasitic mite of pilo-sebaceous unit. The body is semi-transparent, made of two fused segments. Four pairs of short, segmented legs with claw-like appendices are present in the anterior segment (podosoma). The posterior segment (opisthosoma) is elongated and tubular. The mouth (gnathosoma) is pin like with segmented palps. The mite anchors itself to the hair follicle using body scales.[1] The prevalence of this mite in humans is 100%, but to diagnose demodicidosis, a density of at least 5 mites/cm2 is required in standardized skin surface biopsy (SSSB).[2] The mite demonstrated in [Figure 1 and Video 1] is from a patient of steroid rosacea whose SSSB had 6 mites/cm2.

Demodex mite seen under high power (×40) microscopy.
Figure 1:
Demodex mite seen under high power (×40) microscopy.

Video 1:

Video 1:Alive motile Demodex anchored to hair seen in microscope under high power (×40).

Declaration of patient consent

Patient’s consent not required as patient’s identity is not disclosed or compromised.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Videos available on:

https://doi.org/10.25259/CSDM_120_2023

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

References

  1. , . The hair follicle mites Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis: Biology and medical importance. A review. Dermatologica. 1981;162:1-11.
    [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. , . Density of Demodex folliculorum in rosacea: A case-control study using standardized skin-surface biopsy. Br J Dermatol. 1993;128:650-9.
    [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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