Difficulties in diagnosing and treating tinea in adults at the Department of Dermatology in Bialystok (Poland).

In the years 1981-2000, the department of dermatology at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland, carried out a retrospective study of common difficulties in the diagnosis and treatment of tinea. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of incorrect diagnosis and therapy of tinea and tinea incognito (TI) in the patients hospitalized at the institution over a 19-year period. Tinea was identified in 814 patients (4.3% of all patients). TI was diagnosed in 318 patients (39.1% of all patients with tinea). The most diagnostic-therapeutic problems were observed in the patients with tinea pedis, tinea cutis glabrae superficialis, intertrigo candidamycetica, tinea profunda cutis glabrae and tinea profunda barbae. The most common clinical isolates were T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, and Candida albicans. A high percentage of TI was present in comparison with all other tinea conditions.