Superficial Dermatophytosis: A Study of Clinical Variants and Mycological Isolates

Introduction: Fungi are ubiquitous in nature. Dermatophytosis is the infection of keratinized structures caused by members of the fungi of the genera Trichophyton, Epidermophyton and Microsporum. Because of varied clinical presentation of dermatophytosis, and also mimics various other dermatological condition, there is a need for appropriate diagnosis and management of the condition. Materials and method: The study group comprised of 120 patients of clinically diagnosed superficial dermatophytosis. Depending on the site the samples were collected from skin, nails, hair, and scalp and sent to microbiology lab KOH mount and culture. Results: Out of 120 cases 88 were males (73.33%) and 33 females (26.67%). Male to Female ratio was 2.75:1.Majority of the patient were in age the group 21-30 years (24.16%). Amongst the various clinical types of dermatophytosis, tinea corporis was the commonest clinical type (47.5%). Amongst the cases of tinea corporis, classical annular type was most common (35%) Trichophyton rubrum was the predominant species isolated from all clinical types except Tinea capitis. (77.5%) Conclusion: Tinea corporis was the commonest clinical type and annular type of variant was the most common presentation. Trichophyton ruburm was the most common isolate, thus concluding that it is the most common cause of superficial dermatophytic infection. Many patients were diabetic or on steroid therapy in our study thus concluding that the associated diseases are predisposing factors for chronic and recurrent dermatophytic infection.