Demodicosis Cutis and Metabolic Disturbances

Cutaneous demodicosis (CD) is a pilosebaceous unit disease, overlapping clinically with other facial dermatoses, mainly rosacea, and acne. It is usually improved by acaricidal monotherapy. This study investigates the association of CD with metabolic disturbances. It was conducted with 141 patients with primary and secondary CD. The study investigated the correlation between CD and dyslipidemia based on disturbances in total cholesterol (TC) and Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL) and between CD and impaired glucose tolerance, diagnosed with elevated fasting blood sugar levels, 120 minutes blood sugar levels in oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the mathematically calculated Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) index. The study results were verified with control groups. It was established that patients with CD do not show statistically significant deviations in serum lipoproteins compared with the control group. However, the patients with CD tended to have impaired glucose tolerance, demonstrated with elevated fasting glucose levels and elevated HOMA-IR, compared to the control group. Interestingly enough, the tendency towards prediabetes and diabetes was not confirmed by the 120 minutes blood glucose levels of the OGTT. The presented data confirm the need for testing impaired glucose tolerance in every patient with cutaneous demodicosis. Based on the presented evidence, it is recommended to perform the screening by evaluating fasting glucose levels and fasting insulin levels, followed by calculating the HOMA-IR index.