Authors : Richa Garg, Sunil Gupta
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijced.2020.021
Volume : 6
Issue : 1
Year : 2020
Page No : 98-101
The dermatophytes are a group of filamentous fungi that infect only superficial keratinized tissues of skin,
hair and nails. KOH mount is an easy and rapid method to detect them. It is generally not difficult to make
a diagnosis of dermatophytes on KOH based on typical characteristic appearance. However, sometimes
the diagnosis becomes a challenge because of numerous normal structures which can be very similar to
dermatophytes, especially when scrapings are taken from already treated modified tinea infection. This
may lead to an erroneous diagnosis and inappropriate treatment of the patient with antifungal drugs which
have their own side effects. In the present article, numerous mimickers of dermatophytes on KOH are
described with the purpose of avoiding the potential diagnostic pitfalls.
Keywords: Mimickers, Dermatophytes, KOH, Tinea.