Skin Scrapings Mycology Special Stain Skin Scrapings

This examination can provide the physician with early information regarding the possible need for antifungal treatment. Skin scraping is a bedrock technique in dermatology that is applied in a high proportion of cases. It enables both the full thickness of the epidermis and the contents of the hair follicles to be sampled. To establish or confirm the diagnosis of a fungal infection, skin, hair and nail tissue is collected for microscopy and culture (mycology). Exposing the site to long wavelength ultraviolet radiation (Wood lamp) can help identify some fungal infections of hair (tinea capitis) because the infected hair fluoresces green.