Short-duration therapy with terbinafine 1% cream in dermatophyte skin infections

In a multicentre, double-blind, parallel-group study, the efficacy and safety of a single application of terbinafine 1% cream was compared with 3, 5 and 7 days' once-daily therapy in the treatment of tinea pedis and tinea corporis/cruris. Seventy-eight patients with tinea pedis (58 male, 20 female; mean age 36, range 19-80) and 21 patients with tinea corporis or tinea cruris (16 male, 5 female; mean age 37, range 22-72), presenting in general practice, were entered into the study. Of these, 65 patients with tinea pedis and 14 with tinea corporis or cruris completed the study and were evaluable. Twenty-eight days after commencing therapy 78, 83, 82 and 83% of patients with tinea pedis in the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-day treatment groups, respectively, were mycologically cured, and 61, 78, 71 and 67%, respectively, were 'effectively treated'. There was no statistically significant difference between treatment groups. Similarly high cure rates were seen in patients with tinea corporis and tinea cruris. Three months after commencing therapy there was little evidence of relapse. The study shows that there is a significant potential for short-duration therapy with terbinafine 1% cream in tinea infections of the skin, emphasized here by the high cure rates obtained following a single application.