PRIMARY CUTANEOUS PHEOHYPHOMYCOSIS - REPORT OF 7 CASES

We report seven cases of primary cutaneous phaeohyphomycosis. There we re five males and two females, ranging in age from 42-65 years (mean 5 7.7 years). Two patients were otherwise healthy, but five were immunoc ompromised. One patient had rheumatoid arthritis and was on oral predn isone; two were renal transplant recipients, one was a heart transplan t recipient, and the fifth had dermatomyositis. No history of trauma w as elicited from any of the patients, but in two cases, foreign materi al was seen in the tissue sections. All lesions were on the extremitie s. In two cases, tissues were cultured, and these grew Exophiala jeans elmei. The others were not cultured because fungal infection was not c linically suspected. No systemic disease developed in any of the cases , and all were cured by the simple, complete excision of the lesions.