Dermatophytoma in the toenail onychomycosis

Authors

  • Lalita Matthapan DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Chanai Muanprasart DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Nuntida Prasertworonun DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Suppapat Bunyaratavej DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Penvadee Pattanaprichakul DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Charussri Leeyaphan DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Sumanas Bunyaratavej DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE SIRIRAJ HOSPITAL MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND

Keywords:

onychomycosis, dermatophytoma

Abstract

Dermatophytoma is a special condition found in nails; onychomycosis. Clinical features are white, yellow patches or linear streak within the nail plates. Dermatophytoma occurs from mass of fungal ball within nail plates. Laboratory examinations reveal numerous fungal hyphae and large spores forming into fungal balls. Clinical significance of dermatophytoma is frequently resistant to conventional treatment; both topical and systemic medications. Moreover, it is considered as a poor prognostic indicator because of its fungal ball within the nail plate forms biofilm and produces extracellular polysaccharide to be resistant to several antifugal medicines. Treatment of dermatophytoma must use nail avulsion technique along with oral antifungal therapy. A single case has been reported that a patient had had tinea unguium for two years with a symptomless nail lesion and also had a wedge shape whitish streak on the right big toe. The patient received oral antifungal with no improvement. Histopathology and KOH examination revealed numerous fungal hyphae from nail clipping. Fungal culture showed Trichophyton mentagrophytes.

References

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Published

2026-06-09

How to Cite

Matthapan, L., Muanprasart, C., Prasertworonun, N., Bunyaratavej, S., Pattanaprichakul, P., Leeyaphan, C., & Bunyaratavej, S. (2026). Dermatophytoma in the toenail onychomycosis. Thai Journal of Dermatology, 29(2), 140–144. retrieved from https://he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/TJD/article/view/282870

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 2 (2013): April - June

Section

Case Report

License

Copyright (c) 2013 Thai Journal of Dermatology

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

เนื้อหาและข้อมูลในบทความที่ลงตีพิมพ์ในวารสารโรคผิวหนัง ถือเป็นข้อคิดเห็นและความรับผิดชอบของผู้เขียนบทความโดยตรงซึ่งกองบรรณาธิการวารสาร ไม่จำเป็นต้องเห็นด้วย หรือร่วมรับผิดชอบใดๆ

บทความ ข้อมูล เนื้อหา รูปภาพ ฯลฯ ที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์ในวารสารโรคผิวหนัง ถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของวารสารฯ หากบุคคลหรือหน่วยงานใดต้องการนำทั้งหมดหรือส่วนหนึ่งส่วนใดไปเผยแพร่ต่อหรือเพื่อกระทำการใดๆ จะต้องได้รับอนุญาตเป็นลายลักอักษรจากบรรณาธิการวารสารโรคผิวหนังก่อนเท่านั้น