Producing experimental lesions of cutaneous candidiasis

Dermatophyte parasitism in normal patients, and even in most immunodeficient patients, is strictly limited to the stratum corneum. The dermatophyte fungi do not readily invade deeper body tissues. Cutaneous candidiasis, however, seems to be strictly an opportunistic infection of ecologically suitable skin by a yeast that is normally present in the gastrointestinal tract and mucosal surfaces of many healthy persons.