Clinical forms of dermatophytosis (ringworm infection)

Dermatophytic infections of the skin, hairs and nails are very common and are very variable in aspect. In skin, inflammatory symptoms are often absent, but in other cases they may be very pronounced, in particular when caused by zoophilic dermatophytes. In onychomycosis, it is very difficult to make the differential diagnosis with other causes of onychodystrophy on purely clinical grounds; indeed, even in case of fungal infection, the causative agent can be suspected on clinical grounds only in a minority of cases. The clinical presentation of skin infections, infections of the scalp and beard, and the nails are presented more in detail.