[Nail susceptibility to fungal infections in patients with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism].

Onychomycosis is a frequent disorder in adults. The objective of the study was evaluation of finger and toe nails susceptibility to Candida albicans and a dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes infection in patients with symptomatic hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism as compared with healthy persons. The materials comprised finger and toe nails from 23 patients with hypothyroidism (in 8 cases postoperative, and in 15 cases caused by Hashimoto type thyroiditis), and from 27 patients with hyperthyroidism (including 17 cases of Graves-Basedow disease, and 10 with nodular goitre). Nails from 22 healthy persons of similar sex and age distribution served as controls. A significantly more frequent and more intensive than in control group toe nail infection with C. albicans was found in the patients with both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. The enhanced toe nail susceptibility to C. albicans infection did not depend on autoimmunological aetiology of both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.