Abstract

FRAMIL, Valéria Maria de Souza; MELHEM, Márcia S. C; SZESZS, Maria Walderez  and  ZAITZ, Clarisse. New aspects in the clinical course of pityriasis versicolor. An. Bras. Dermatol. [online]. 2011, vol.86, n.6, pp. 1135-1140. ISSN 0365-0596.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0365-05962011000600011.

BACKGROUND: Pytiriasis versicolor is an infectious disease caused by several Malassezia species which has a tendency to become relapsing or chronic. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted in an attempt to investigate the clinical course of pityriasis versicolor with regard to the number of relapses after a 12-month therapy and correlate this number with isolates of Malassezia species. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 102 patients with clinical and laboratory diagnosis of pityriasis versicolor were monitored for 12 months to investigate the number of relapsing episodes of the disease. RESULTS: After appropriate treatment, pityriasis versicolor presented three types of clinical course: pity - riasis versicolor without relapsing episodes (32.35%), relapsing pityriasis versicolor with one to four relapsing episodes (52.94% ) due to associated predisposing factors, and chronic pityriasis versicolor with more than four relapsig episodes (14.70%) with no relation to predisposing factors. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical course of pityriasis versicolor varied according to the number of relapsing episodes of the disease analyzed over a period of 12 months and can be classified as follows: pityriasis versiolor with clinical and mycological clearing, relapsing pityriasis versicolor and chronic pityriasis versicolor.

Keywords : Ketoconazole; Malassezia; Mycoses; Therapeutics; Tinea versicolor.