How to Diagnose Skin Fungus

Skin fungus is quite common. It can be hard to diagnose without the assistance of a doctor. There are many types of fungus including Athlete's Foot, Jock Itch, Ringworm, Tinea Versicolor and Candidiasis. These different types of fungus need to be diagnosed as quickly as possible before they spread to other areas of the skin.

Instructions

1. Look at your skin and determine if you have symptoms that including flaking, itching, redness and thickness of the skin. These are also symptoms for dermatitis or skin allergies, but they may signify a fungus.

2. Go online and look at pictures of skin fungus. You may notice similarities to the area on your skin where you think you might have a skin fungus.

3. Visit with a doctor so he or she can look at the area and determine if it may be a skin fungus. The doctor will examine the area and ask you if you have had any other symptoms that he can see with the naked eye.

4. Let your doctor look over the rest of your skin. The doctor will want to look over the rest of your skin to see if you may have other areas that have gone unnoticed or other symptoms that may signify a different problem.

5. Get a biopsy performed on the area by the doctor. The doctor will scrape off a small piece of the infected area and look at it under a microscope. A stain may be applied to the skin to help the doctor view it more clearly.

6. Have the skin sample sent to a laboratory where the skin will be put in a culture medium to see if the fungus will grow and can be identified.