Onychomycosis in elderly chiropody patients

The thickened toe‐nails of 168 patients attending a chiropody clinic for old age pensioners were examined for onychomycosis by a suction drill sampling method. The nails of sixty‐eight (41%) of the patients were microscopically positive. Cultures from 12% of these were unsuccessful. Of the remainder, twenty (12%) were infected by dermatophytes and 42 (25%) by moulds. In addition, large quantities of several yeast species were grown from thirteen microscopically negative nails. A higher proportion of men than of women in the same age range were infected both by dermatophytes and moulds.