Fungal infections in patients with nail psoriasis in Khuzestan province

Introduction and objective: Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent, and common inflammatory skin disease, characterized by skin and nail involvements. Onychomycosis is a common disease of the nails. The relationship between psoriasis and onychomycosis is ambiguous. We studied this relationship in psoriasis patients with any nail involvement. Materials and methods: The nail specimens were prepared by scraping and clippings from the patients with nail changes of psoriasis, which referred to the Department of Dermatology of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences during 2008-2009. These samples were studied through smear preparing and culture. Result: Totally, we studied 60 eligible cases (27 men and 33 women). The mean age was 32 +/- 8 years. The most common clinical form of psoriasis was psoriasis vulgaris (63.3%). Only one patient showed yeast in direct microscopy examination, whose culture was negative. Conclusion: This study revealed no statistically significant association between nail psoriasis and fungal infection.