Telltale signs of skin trespassers: Clues to superficial mycosis

Abstract

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, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.Superficial fungal infections constitute the commonest reason for a dermatologic consultation across India. However, recently they have become a diagnostic challenge due to various reasons. This article highlights certain signs and appearances that may facilitate their diagnosis.

Pityriasis versicolor: Causes and new active ingredients as a potential treatment

“…PV scales are thin and overlapping, merging into larger patches (Macedo;Freitas, 2021;Saunte;Gaitanis;Hay, 2020;Krueger et al, 2021;Karray;McKinney, 2022). The diagnosis of PV is clinical, usually by visually observing the spots that have a scaly characteristic (Figure 3), i.e., the peeling of the skin is evaluated when stretching it, positioning the fingers at an angle of 180°, also called "evoked-skin" or Zireli's sign, so that the Malassezia yeast is exposed (Macedo;Freitas, 2021;Varsha et al, 2023). Ultraviolet black light and microscopic examination of scales embedded in potassium hydroxide (KOH), as depicted in Figure 4, can be used in case of doubtful diagnosis.…”

“…Microscopic observation of shaved portions of the skin in potassium hydroxide (KOH) can be used to confirm the presence of spherical hyphae and blastoconidia characteristic of Malassezia spp. Generally, the spots are distributed over the neck, face, upper part of the trunk and proximal upper extremities, since these are areas with a greater number of sebaceous glands (Hudson;Sturgeon;Peiris, 2018;Alberdi;Gómez, 2020;Li et al, 2021;M;Freitas, 2021;Chebil et al, 2022;Varsha et al, 2023).…”