Office Practice–Based Confirmation of Onychomycosis

Onychomycosis is sufficiently prevalent to be seen and treated by primary care physicians. The diagnosis of onychomycosis is most often confirmed from nail specimens by microscopy and fungal culture done at a central laboratory; these are relatively expensive tests with a turnaround time of a month or more. This study was conducted (1) to evaluate the use of in-office dermatophyte test medium (DTM) culture, and (2) to determine the epidemiology of onychomycosis in a large, nationwide sample of patients who were not participants in a clinical trial.