Cutaneous cryptococcosis successfully treated with itraconazole.

I report on a patient with primary cryptococcosis that was successfully treated with oral itraconazole. A seventy-year-old laborer with primary cutaneous cryptococcosis presented with a large verrucous plaque with abscess on his right forearm. His infection was probably due to direct inoculation of the fungus from trauma. This patient was probably immunosuppressed by long-term treatment with systemic steroids, which he took for treatment of chronic obstructive airway disease. His cryptococcosis cleared with a six-month course of oral itraconazole 200 mg daily. The patient experienced no side effects during treatment.