Undecylenic Acid in the Treatment of Dermatomycosis

The difficulties encountered in the evaluation of a fungicidal agent were well discussed recently by Goldman and his co-workers.1These authors pointed out that it is possible to observe and control outpatients critically and frequently enough and that yet, if studies are carried out on hospital patients, the rest in bed creates artificial conditions not similar to actual conditions under which the infection is usually acquired or aggravated or treated. This study is based exclusively on outpatients. We felt that it was easier to surmount the shortcomings of control of such patients than to account for the beneficial effect of rest in bed, the extent of which is an unpredictable factor, making all conclusions uncertain. In contrast to the studies made by Goldman and his associates, in this study only patients proved to have a fungous infection by scraping and/or culture were included. It is our firm conviction