title: A study of onychomycosis in patients attending a dermatology center in Tehran, Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the incidence of onychomycosis based on age and sex, morphological pattern of the disease, predisposing factors and identification of fungus by direct microscopy and culture methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study was conducted on 140 patients with nail disorders. A detailed history and thorough examination was done in all patients. The samples were taken from patients clinically suspected of fingernails and toenails infections attending a dermatology center in Tehran, Iran. The nails were subjected to potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination and fungal culture on Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) medium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Specimens from 79 patients (56.4%) were positive for onychomycosis. The mycological observations showing positive fining with KOH were observed in 79 (56.4%) and culture positive in 35 (25%) cases. Females were more infected than males. The most common age group infected was 41-60 years (40.7%). Toenails were affected more frequently than fingernails and dystrophic onychomycosis was the most common clinical type seen in 39.2% patients. From the culture-positive samples, yeasts were the most common pathogens isolated from 25 (71.4%) patients, followed by non-dermatophytic moulds in 6 (17.1%) and dermatophytes in 4 (11.5%) patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that Candida species were the main agents causing onychomycosis in our region and accurate diagnosis of onychomycosis was based on direct microscopy and fungal culture.
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: khosravi@ut.ac.ir.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of veterinary medicine, Amol university of special modern technologies, Amol, Iran.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shokri
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharifzadeh
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aspergillus; Candida; Dermatophyte; Dystrophic changes; Dystrophie; Iran; Nail; Ongle; Onychomycoses; Onychomycosis