Oral fluconazole in the treatment of tinea versicolor

This study was designed to assess the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of oral fluconazole given at 300 mg once weekly for two weeks in the treatment of tinea versicolor. Enrolled into the study were 44 subjects with tinea versicolor, provisionally confirmed by the detection of fungal hyphae in KOH wet mounts and Wood's lamp examination. Four subjects were classified as dropouts because no information was obtained from them after the baseline visit. Subjects were treated for two weeks orally with fluconazole 300 mg weekly and followed at the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 12th weeks of treatment. The study included 40 subjects (26 males and 14 females, mean age 29 years, range 19-48 years). At the week 4 visit, 30 (75%) patients showed a complete cure and 31 (77.5%) patients showed mycologic cure. Ten (25%) patients had no significant response to therapy. At the final follow-up visit (week 12), none of the patients showing complete or mycologic cures exhibited a recurrence. No adverse effects were observed in any of the patients treated. We believe that, due to the low incidence of side effects, shorter treatment duration, and increased adaptation of the patients, fluconazole can be used in the treatment of tinea versicolor with confidence.