Pityriasis (Tinea) Versicolor

Complications /Information to beware of/General tips:

Prevention of bacterial and fungal skin complications

• Avoid tight clothing, especially during exercise.
• Wash athletic clothing after each use.
• Shaving:
  • Pre-shave, hydrate the hair to soften. This can be done with a warm, damp towel (like how your skin is prepped for shave in the barbershop). At home, it’s more practical to shave immediately after showering. This allows the skin and hair to be well hydrated and softened. Shaving hair that is well-hydrated is more likely to produce a blunt tip, rather than a sharp end.5
  • Use moisturizing shaving cream or gels to give a shave with less drag. Friction can irritate the skin.
  • Don’t pull the skin taut when shaving. This gives you a closer shave, but a close shave isn’t what you’re going for. When the skin is pulled taut, the hair is cut so close that it stretches and then retracts under the skin’s surface. This makes ingrown hairs much more likely as the hair grows out.
  • Use a single blade razor rather than one with multiple blades. Along the same lines, with a multiple blade razor, one blade pulls and stretches the hair while the other blade cuts the hair short enough to retract below the skin’s surface. You may also get good results switching to an electric razor rather than a blade.
  • Shave in the direction of hair growth rather than against the grain. Doing this won’t give you as close of a shave, so you won’t feel completely smooth. But again that is the goal⁠—to keep the hair just above the surface of the skin so there is less chance of it turning and growing into the skin’s tissue.
  • Shave less frequently, if possible. Again, this allows the hair to stay a bit on the longer side, reducing ingrown hair development.
  • Use clippers instead of a razor. This doesn’t give you a close, clean shave, but rather keeps hair very short but above the skin’s surface. It’s recommended that you leave the hair at least 1 millimeter long.

Verywellhealth

• Avoid shaving irritated skin.
• Use an electric razor or a new disposable razor each time you shave.
• Consider other methods of hair removal

Treat mild folliculitis

• Use an antibacterial soap.
• Apply hot, moist compresses to the affected area.
• Consider taking oral allergy medication i.e. antihistamines
• Wash towels, washcloths, and bed linens often.
• Wear loose-fitting clothes.

Skinsight

• Patients can self-manage with the use of topical antiseptics, such as chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine or triclosan, which can be used for seven to ten days.

Tidy C. Folliculitis. Patient. 2023.https://patient.info/doctor/folliculitis-pro 
(accessed Jul 2023).

• Keep affected areas covered if they are draining pus.
• Avoid sharing towels
• Wash hands after touching the affected area.

General tips

• Sweat rash tips
• It can take several weeks or months for your skin to return to its normal colour and, in more persistent cases, treatment may need to be repeated.
• Skin especially patches may not tan properly hence wear high factor sunscreen or avoid sun exposure
• Consider oil-free or non-comedogenic products. – Avoid oily skin products the fungus likes to grow in these environments.
• Please see you doctor if no improvement  after two weeks.

Treatment

• Ketoconazole shampoo maybe considered after an initial assessment by your Medical Doctor.
• This medication has many medical drug interactions, please check with your pharmacist before considering to use this product.

This condition may show similar symptoms to:

• Vitiligo
• Solar lentigo/liver spots
• Pityriasis alba
• Pityriasis rosea
• Roseola
• Syphilis
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Seborrheic dermatitis
• Urticaria

Please talk to your healthcare professional (i.e. Medical Doctor/Pharmacist) for further advice