Frequency of fungal involvement in nail psoriasis

Background and Objective. Because it is clinically so similar,onychomycosis is one of the most important differential diagnostic considerations in pso riatic nail changes. We determined the frequency of fungal involvement in n ails of psoriatic patients. Patients/Methods. Fungal colonization of the nails of psoriatic patients wi th and without clinically obvious nail changes was investigated in a collec tive of 250 patients compared to a group of 102 non-psoriatic persons. Results. There was no significant difference in the frequency of nail colon ization with dermatophytes and moulds between healthy persons and psoriatic s. Yeasts were more commonly found in psoriatic nails. Conclusions. Nail changes in psoriatic patients a re mostly caused by psori asis. However secondary colonization by yeasts is more common in psoriatic nails than in the general population. It remains to be clarified why dermat ophytes are not more common in psoriatic nails.