Treatment of tinea corporis

Diagnosis should be confirmed via samples of skin scale.

Patients should be advised on skin hygiene to avoid predisposing factors of infection e.g. – the skin should be dry and cool at all times, avoid sharing towels, clothes etc (1).

Treatment is usually with topical antifungal therapy such as imidazole creams e.g. clotrimazole cream twice daily for four weeks.

• An alternative is 1% terbanifine cream applied once or twice daily for one week (2)
• Treatment should be continued for 1-2 weeks after the lesions have clinically been resolved (3)

Antifungal /topical steroid combinations may lead to a more rapid reduction in inflammtory symptoms (4) . However these combinations have no overall benefit (1).

Extensive skin infections may require oral therapies.

• Before treatment a positive microscopy or a positive culture of skin scrapings is recommended (2)
• Oral treatment options include:
• terbinafine

• griseofulvin

• itraconazole (3)

Reference:

• (1) Gupta AK, Chaudhry M, Elewski B. Tinea corporis, tinea cruris, tinea nigra, and piedra. Dermatol Clin. 2003;21(3):395-400
• (2) Health Protection Agency 2009. Fungal nail & skin infections: diagnosis & laboratory investigation – Quick reference guide for primary care
• (3) Turchin I et al. Edema, erythema and a cutaneous lesion on the hand. Can Fam Physician. 2005;51(4): 499–501
• (4) Havlickova B, Friedrich M. The advantages of topical combination therapy in the treatment of inflammatory dermatomycoses. Mycoses. 2008;51(4):16-26