European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

TOPICAL ANTIFUNGALS FOR TREATMENT OF TINEA VERSICOLOR: CURRENT TREATMENT AND NEW HORIZONS

*Sharma Jyoti, Srivastava A. and Kaushal Jyoti

ABSTRACT

Tinea versicolor (TV), is one of the most common infectious skin diseases It is a chronic fungal disease where patients can present with symptoms ranging from hypopigmented to hyperpigmented macules associated with erythema, scaling and itching in characteristic areas of the body, including the chest, back, abdomen, and proximal extremities. Systemic antifungals (oral) e.g. fluconazole, ketoconazole etc are effective in treatment of TV but can be associated with serious adverse events. Topical treatment of Tinea versicolor can be divided into Specific antifungals and Non-specific antifungals. Non-specific antifungals include salicylic acid, selenium sulfide, sodium sulfacetamide, sodium thiosulphate, sulphur/salicylic acid, Whitfield’s ointment etc. Specific antifungals include azoles and allylamines. Topical azoles are mostly imidazoles (bifonazole, econazole, flutrimazole, ketoconazole, miconazole, fenticonazole, clotrimazole, sulconazole, tioconazole) or triazoles (fluconazole). The main problem in the treatment of tinea versicolor with topical therapy can be the development of resistance which can lead to treatment failure and relapse. Newer azoles for the treatment of tinea versicolor include eberconazole, sertaconazole, luliconazole, dapaconazole which were found to be more efficacious with less chances of treatment failure and relapse and. Also, some newer formulations of older drugs such as nanoparticles, penetration enhancers are also being developed for better efficacy and less side effects.

Keywords: Topical, azoles, tinea versicolor, nanoparticles.