Tinea versicolor

Christopher J. Hoffmann, M.D., M.P.H.
Tinea versicolor is a topic covered in the Johns Hopkins ABX Guide.

To view the entire topic, please or .

Pediatrics Central™ is an all-in-one application that puts valuable medical information, via your mobile device or the web, in the hands of clinicians treating infants, children, and adolescents. Explore these free sample topics:

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

PATHOGENS

  • Malassezia furfur (Pityrosporum ovale): the pathogen in a majority of cases.
  • Malassezia globosa
  • Malassezia symphodialis
  • Malassezia silffiae
  • Growth of these yeasts in cultures requires special media.
    • Sabouraud dextrose agar overlaid with olive oil required with incubation at 30°C.
      • Other strategies include:
        • Modified Leeming and Notham agar (Kanekoet al.2007)
        • Modified Dixon’s agar
        • CHROMagar Malassezia medium is commercially available and isolates most common Malassezia species.
    • Colonies often difficult to distinguish in the oil layer.

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or --

PATHOGENS

  • Malassezia furfur (Pityrosporum ovale): the pathogen in a majority of cases.
  • Malassezia globosa
  • Malassezia symphodialis
  • Malassezia silffiae
  • Growth of these yeasts in cultures requires special media.
    • Sabouraud dextrose agar overlaid with olive oil required with incubation at 30°C.
      • Other strategies include:
        • Modified Leeming and Notham agar (Kanekoet al.2007)
        • Modified Dixon’s agar
        • CHROMagar Malassezia medium is commercially available and isolates most common Malassezia species.
    • Colonies often difficult to distinguish in the oil layer.

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.

Last updated: October 21, 2019