2076 



TROPICAL DERMATOMYCOSES 



various sizes, generally roundish, smooth, sharply defined, with 

 margins not elevated, or only slightly so. Sometimes the patches 

 are irregularly festooned, and may encircle an area of healthy skin. 

 Occasionally the encircled healthy skin appears to be intersected 

 by many yellowish, ribbon-like lines originating from the surround- 

 ing yellow patch. The regions more frequently affected are, in 

 order of frequency, the face, neck, chest, and abdomen. Large 

 portions of the body may be involved. There is, as a rule, no 

 pruritus. The patches are not desquamating, or only very slightly 

 so. The course of tinea fiava is very chronic. In the natives of the 

 lower classes it appears in childhood in the shape of tiny spots on 

 the face and chest, spreading slowly during years; they may 

 coalesce, covering practically the whole of the face and chest. 



Fig. 825. — Tinea Flava: Variety Guttata. 



One is occasionally surprised to see a native whose face 'and chest 

 are quite light in colour; on closer examination, it may be found 

 that this lighter appearance is due to a diffuse, very light-coloured 

 form of tinea fiava, covering the whole of the face, neck, and chest. 

 In Ceylonese native women, when the patches of tinea flava are 

 small, light, and situated on the face, they are considered to be 

 beauty-spots, and are highly appreciated by the ladies and their 

 admirers. Such patches are called in Sinhalese ' alu-hama/ which 

 means ashy skin [alu, ash; hama, skin). There is also another word 

 used by native poets for such condition — * gomera,' which means 

 skin dotted with beauty-spots. The disease, which is extremely 

 common, attacks mostly natives, but occasionally Europeans also. 

 In Europeans the patches are yellowish-reddish or pinkish (tinea 

 rosea), and may be due to different strains of M. tropica. 



