Epidemiological, Clinical and Cultural Study of Onychomycosis

Background and Objective: Onychomycosis is a common nail disorder caused by dermatophytes and non-dermatophyte molds and represents most of the mycotic cutaneous infections. The purpose of the present study was to know the incidence of onychomycosis on both age and sex, morphological pattern of the disease, predisposing factors, associated conditions and identification of fungus by direct microscopy and by culture methods to rule out in Indian population. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 64 patients of onychomycosis. A detailed history and thorough examination was done in all patients. The samples were taken from involved nails and skin and subjected to potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination and fungal culture and identification of fungal growth on Sabouraud’s dextrose agar (SDA) medium. Results: Distal sub-ungual onychomycosis (DSO) was commonest type 47(78.35%) patients, 10(16.6%) patients with candidial onychomycosis (CO), 2 (3.34%) patients with proximal subungual onychomycosis (PSO) and 1(1.71%) showing superficial white onychomycosis. The mycological observations showing positive fining with KOH were observed in 50(83%) and culture positive in 40(66.66%) cases. The most common predominant organism isolated is Trichophyton rubrum in 22(35%) cases followed by trichophyton mentagrophytes 6(10%) cases and the non-dermatophytes could be isolated in 3 cases (5%) only.