Dermatophytosis and antifungal therapies in various systems with special emphasis on homoeopathy: a narrative review

Abstract

Superficial skin diseases are mainly caused by dermatophytes. Skin affections caused by these dermatophytes are commonly known as ringworm or Tinea or dermatophytosis. Generally, these infections are not that much of serious, but if the infection becomes chronic and resistant to commonly used topical antifungal drugs, it would be very difficult to treat Dermatophytes. Trichophyton rubrum is the main causative agent of dermatophyte fungal infections followed by T. mentagrophyte. Treatment for these acute and chronic conditions in the conventional system is ineffective. Many studies revealed that Homoeopathic Medicines, Herbals, Siddha Medicines, Ayurvedic Medicines work effectively for these conditions. The present review reveals the effectiveness of Homoeopathic Medicines, Herbals, Siddha Medicines and Ayurvedic Medicines for superficial fungal infections in clinical and in-vitro studies against dermatophytes. Articles published in relevant studies are summarized by different computerized database literature searches (searches were made in PubMed, Google Scholar, Research Gate and Cochrane).