Sulconazole. A review of its antimicrobial activity and therapeutic use in superficial dermatomycoses.

Sulconazole is a substituted imidazole antimicrobial agent structurally related to other drugs in this group. It possesses a broad spectrum of activity in vitro against dermatophytes, yeasts and some Gram-positive bacteria. The efficacy and safety of sulconazole 1% cream has been demonstrated in controlled clinical studies in patients with superficial dermatophyte or yeast infections. In these trials, sulconazole generally displayed similar efficacy to clotrimazole, econazole and miconazole, although in a few studies sulconazole produced better and/or quicker improvement than clotrimazole or miconazole in small numbers of patients with tinea pedis. Further studies in larger groups of patients are needed to confirm these encouraging preliminary findings. Thus, sulconazole is an effective and well tolerated alternative to other topical imidazole drugs in the treatment of superficial fungal infections of the skin.