Clinico-mycological Study of Onychomycosis

Abstract

Onychomycosis constitutes one of the major causes of nail dystrophy and is of serious concern to the clinical because of its chronicity and recalcitrance to therapy. The clinical and mycological features were studied in 45 cases of onychomycosis. The disease was more common in adult males. Subungual hyperkeratosis (95.5%) and discolouration of the nail plate (100%) were the most consistent fmdings,observed. Among the 4 clinical types seen, distal subungual onychomycosis was the commonest. The finger nails were more commonly involved than toe nails. The culture positivity rate was observed to be 68.8% The predominant isolates obtained were T. rubrum (52.9%), T. mentagraphytes (20.1%) T. tonsurans (5.9%), Asperginus species (8.8%) and C. albicans (11.8%).