The necessity of culture for the diagnosis of tinea pedis
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Background. This study examined the consistency between the clinical diagnosis of tinea pedis and the results of direct fungal examination, prepared with 10% potassium hydroxide, and culture. Methods: 2427 patients clinically diagnosed with tinea pedis who presented to the mycology laboratory were reviewed retrospectively for the outcomes of direct fungal examination and culture. Results: Direct examination was positive in 54.3% and culture was positive in 36.6% of the cases. The sensitivity and specificity of direct microscopy were 95.7% and 69.6%, respectively Conclusions: The clinical diagnosis of tinea pedis can be misleading, since it features lesions that can also be present in some other skin diseases and direct microscopy may be insufficient to confirm the diagnosis. Therefore, we suggest using culture for a definitive diagnosis.