Clinico-mycological profile of tinea capitis and its comparative response to griseofulvin versus terbinafine

Background and Purpose: Tinea capitis is the most common superficial mycosis inchildren. This disease is a contagious infection with worldwide distribution and isoccasionally associated with permanent alopecia. The treatment of this infectionusually requires the administration of appropriate oral antifungal agents. The currentstudy was conducted to evaluate the clinico-mycological profile of tinea capitis andcompare the efficiency of oral griseofulvin and terbinafine in the treatment of thisdisease.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 69 patients, including 23females (33.3%) and 46 males (66.7%), clinically suspected of tinea capitis. After theconfirmation of tinea capitis diagnosis through direct examination, the subjects wererandomly assigned into two groups of griseofulvin and terbinafine. Demographic data,clinical and mycological characteristics, and therapeutic outcome were recorded forboth groups.Results: According to the results, tinea capitis was more common in children youngerthan 15 years (73.9%), athletes (37.7%), and males (66.7%), and those with frontalinvolvement (34.8%), non-inflammatory type (68.1%), endothrix (69.6%), andTrichophyton tonsurans species (41.7%). The griseofulvin and terbinafine groups hadthe treatment success rates of 90.9% and 80.6%, respectively (P=0.311). Thegriseofulvin group had a shorter therapeutic course than the terbinafine group(P=0.129).Conclusion: Although our findings demonstrated that both griseofulvin and terbinafinewere effective in the treatment of tinea capitis, griseofulvin showed a little higherefficacy in this regard. Consideration of some variables, such as age, associated riskfactors, clinical type, hair involvement pattern, and dominant pathogenic species, isimportant in the determination of the drugs.