What to do about tinea versicolor? Best treatment for tinea versicolor

Tinea versicolor is a common fungal infection. We can treat this disease with oral medications or topical medications to alleviate the symptoms, but no matter which method is used, we must follow the doctor's instructions.

1. Oral medication: For large areas of tinea versicolor, ketoconazole should be taken orally, 200 mg once a day for 10 consecutive days. Fluconazole 50 mg once a day for 10 days. Itraconazole 200 mg once a day for 5-7 days.

The remaining hypopigmentation after treatment recovers slowly to normal skin color, but exposure to ultraviolet light can speed up recovery.

2. Topical medications: Topical use of keratolytics or other antifungal preparations, such as compound resorcinol ointment or miconazole cream. Or use 20%-40% sodium thiosulfate ointment twice a day for 2 weeks. Or use 2% clotrimazole cream, 1% terbinafine cream for external use (this drug is not secreted by sweat glands and is ineffective when taken orally), 2.5% selenium sulfide cream or lotion, 1% bifonazole cream or 2% ketoconazole lotion. Generally, clinical cure can be achieved after 2 to 4 weeks of medication.

3. Shampoos for treating seborrheic dermatitis , such as shampoo containing 1% selenium disulfide, can be used to treat tinea versicolor. Apply this shampoo to the affected area before going to bed, leave it on overnight, and rinse it off the next morning. Treatment lasts 3-4 nights. If skin irritation occurs, the contact time of shampoo on the skin must be reduced to only 20-60 minutes, or another treatment may be needed.

4. After healing, the affected skin will not have normal pigmentation for several months. When the scales are removed or the lesions heal, temporary hypopigmented spots remain. The course of the disease is chronic, usually subsiding in winter and recurring in summer. Fungi that cause infections can normally be present on the skin. Therefore, after recovery, symptoms often reappear, in which case further treatment is necessary.