Histologic evaluation of nail clippings for diagnosing onychomycosis

Nail clippings from patients suspected of having onychomycosis were processed for histologic evaluation in the same manner as routine skin with the addition of a chitin-softening solution prior to processing. The sections were stained by the periodic acid-Schiff method and examined for fungal hyphae. The results were compared with the results of fungal cultures from the same nail. Our findings indicate that routine histopathologic analysis of the nail plate alone is a useful complementary method to fungal culture for diagnosing onychomycosis.