Treatment of dermatomycoses and onychomycoses--state of the art.

We have reached a stage whereby many of the superficial mycoses are treatable with short courses of antifungal drugs. However, the minimum duration of therapy has still not been well defined and there remain some mycoses which do not respond to conventional therapy. It may be possible to introduce more radical approaches to therapy such as the single-dose oral or topical therapy for tinea pedis or short-duration therapy for onychomycosis. Amongst these options, topical therapies still have a part to play in the management of onychomycosis, and the role of amorolfine in this respect is of potential value. The ability of the drug to produce lasting remissions after short courses of treatment is also of great interest. Last, but not least, amorolfine has an in-vitro spectrum of activity which covers some of the less common cutaneous pathogens, and hence it may prove of benefit in those infections for which treatment at present is limited.