Direct staining on vinyl plastic tape, demonstration of the cutaneous flora of the epidermis by the strip method

New Uses of Vinyl Tape for Reliable Collection and Diagnosis of Common Superficial Mycoses

“…Although no failures were seen in our five tinea faciei, three tinea pedis, and one tinea manuum cases, we strongly recommend using control scraped‐sample preparations whenever the VAT‐based technique produces a negative result. Negative results May occurr if adhesive tapes are not sticky enough to strip scales from greasy, moist skin, as well as from the palms or soles 2 . A further possible limitation of our proposed VAT‐based procedure would apply to scalp lesions, which May occasionally give negative results, as happened in the present investigation.…”

“…Vinyl adhesive tape (VAT) samples were first employed for the diagnosis of tinea versicolor (TV) in 1953 1 . Addition of potassium hydroxide (KOH) or dyes, such as Albert's solution, to specimens stripped from lesions in order to enhance both detection level and imaging quality of Malassezia furfur has also been reported 2–6 . Moreover, no reliable results have been presented thus far concerning a VAT‐based procedure for superficial mycoses, other than T V, especially for dermatophyte and yeast infections 1,5,7 …”

“…1 Addition of potassium hydroxide (KOH) or dyes, such as Albert's solution, to specimens stripped from lesions in order to enhance both detection level and imaging quality of Malassezia furfur has also been reported. [2][3][4][5][6] Moreover, no reliable results have been presented thus far concerning a VAT-based procedure for superficial mycoses, other than TV, especially for dermatophyte and yeast infections. 1,5,7 Since the early 1990s, we have been testing VAT preparations from several superficial mycoses, where regularly positive results were obtained for TV only, as well as for one occasional case of tinea nigra palmaris.…”

Fungal cultures from skin strippings

“…Also, as stated by Keddie et al (1961), the vinyl tape is not sufficiently adhesive where the skin is highly macerated. For the palm and sole, on the other hand, we have found the adhesiveness sufficient, but owing to the thickness of the horny layer in these regions it is difficult and very time-consuming to strip off the entire horny layer.…”

“…and Keddie et al (1961) have uscd the method for demonstrating Malassezia furfur. The latter used a tape of vinyl plasdc distinguished in being resistant to water.…”