Atypical Presentations of Tinea Incognito

Ravulapalli Lakshmi Sindhuja; Keerthana Rajasekaran; Navakumar Manickam; Seethalakshmi  Ganga Vellaisamy; Kannan Gopalan

Ravulapalli Lakshmi Sindhuja Student, Department of Skin & STD, Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospitals, Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (DU), Salem, India
Keerthana Rajasekaran Assistant Professor, Department of Skin & STD, Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospitals, Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (DU), Salem, India
Navakumar Manickam Associate Professor, Department of Skin & STD, Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospitals, Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (DU), Salem, India
Seethalakshmi Ganga Vellaisamy Professor, Department of Skin & STD, Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospitals, Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (DU), Salem, India
Kannan Gopalan Professor, Department of Skin & STD, Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospitals, Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (DU), Salem, India

Keywords: tinea incognito, tinea psuedoimbricata, atypical dermatophytosis, steroid modified tinea

Abstract

Dermatophytosis is a prevalent superficial fungal infection involving
20–25% of the worldwide population, attributed to various species of
dermatophytes, such as Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton.
However, its clinical presentations in immunocompromised individuals
or those resorting to topical and systemic corticosteroids often mimic
other dermatoses such as exfoliative dermatitis (ED), dermatophytosis
incognito, inflammatory, or neoplastic conditions, leading to delayed or
mismanagement in treatment. This review focuses on the prevalence of
atypical presentations of tinea incognito and their diagnostic evaluations
highlighted through relevant case reports from the year 2019 to 2024.

How to cite this article:
Sindhuja R L, Rajasekaran K, Manickam
N, Vellaisamy S G, Gopalan K. Atypical
Presentations of Tinea Incognito. J Commun
Dis. 2025;57(1):157-166.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202521

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