Successful 2-week treatment with terbinafine (LamisilR) for moccasin tinea pedis and tinea manuum

A new orally active antifungal agent, terbinafine, was used in the treatment of tinea pedis ('dry type' or moccasin type) and tinea manuum. Fifty-three adults over the age of 16 years with fungal infections of the feet and/or hands were treated with either oral terbinafine, 250 mg, or placebo, once daily for 2 weeks. The diagnosis of fungal infection was confirmed by examination of skin scrapings by microscopy and culture. Of these, 28 patients were evaluable for efficacy. At 8 weeks, 12 out of 14 (86%) patients who received terbinafine were mycologically negative (microscopy and culture) compared to one out of 14 (7%) patients on placebo (P less than 0.001, Fishers exact test, one-sided). At the end of the study 71% of patients in the terbinafine group were judged to have received effective therapy compared to 0% in the placebo group (P less than 0.001). Terbinafine was well tolerated, and more side-effects were seen in the placebo group.