From the Research
Treatment Options for Tinea Versicolor
- Topical antifungal therapy is the treatment of choice for tinea versicolor, with a better safety profile and lower cost compared to systemic treatment 1
- Oral antifungal therapy is typically reserved for patients with extensive disease, frequent recurrences, or disease that is refractory to topical therapy 1
- Long-term intermittent prophylactic therapy should be considered for patients with frequent recurrence of the disease 1
Antifungal Agents
- Selection of antifungal agents depends on several factors, including efficacy, safety, local availability, ease of administration, likelihood of compliance, and potential drug interactions of the antifungal agent 1
- Synthetic "azole" antifungal drugs, such as ketoconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole, have been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor 2, 3, 4, 5
- Itraconazole has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor, with a total dose required for effective treatment of 1000 mg 4
- Fluconazole and ketoconazole have been shown to have similar efficacy in the treatment of tinea versicolor 5
Treatment Regimens
- A single dose of 400 mg itraconazole has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor, with a cure rate of 73.33% and an improvement rate of 16.33% 3
- A 7-day daily dose of 200 mg itraconazole has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor, with a cure rate of 79.99% and an improvement rate of 13.33% 3
- A single dose of fluconazole (two 150 mg capsules) repeated weekly for 2 weeks has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor, with a maximal cure rate achieved at 8 weeks from the start of treatment 5
- A single dose of ketoconazole (two 200 mg tablets) repeated weekly for 2 weeks has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tinea versicolor, with a maximal cure rate achieved at 8 weeks from the start of treatment 5