ABSTRACT

Objective:

It was aimed to determine bacteria distribution and S.aureus colonization in nares, fornix and eyelid margin of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) compared to controls and to investigate it?s relationship with skin and eye involvement.

Methods:

Patients dermatological and opthalmologic examinations were done. The standart tear break-up time and Schirmer tests were performed. Samples were taken from fornix, eyelid margin and nares for bacterial culture.

Results:

Tweenty seven patients and 28 controls were included. There was no difference between the patients with and without eye involvement with respect to dry eye (p>0.05). The bacteria was more frequently isolated in patients (85.2%) than controls (60.7%), however S.aureus colonization (51.9%, 50.0% respectively) didn?t differ in both groups (p=0.042, p>0.05). The disease severity was positively correlated with S.aureus colonization (p=0.031). There was no difference between the patients with and without eye involvement with respect to S.aureus colonization and presence of bacteria (p>0.05). No bacteria was isolated from patients whom tear function analyses were performed.

Conclusions:

It wasn?t established an increased percent of S.aureus colonization in AD patients compared with controls. There was no association between dry eye and eye involvement. No comment could be remarked about the possible relation between dry eye and bacterial colonization.