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Chronic Disfiguring Facial Lesions in an Immunocompetent Patient Due to Exophiala spinifera: A Case Report and Review of Literature

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Abstract

Exophiala spinifera is a rare fungus causing chromoblastomycosis or different types of phaeohyphomycosis (cutaneous, subcutaneous, disseminated and cyst phaeohyphomycosis). We report a case of a young male with phaeohyphomycosis due to E. spinifera, who had multiple itchy painful papular lesions disfiguring his face for 4 years. His diagnosis was delayed and had received antibacterial and antileishmanial therapy elsewhere without any improvement. While he reported to our hospital, the histopathology of the biopsy collected from the lesion demonstrated acute on chronic inflammation with granuloma formation and darkly pigmented fungal elements. The isolate grown on culture was identified as E. spinifera on the basis of morphological characters. The identification of the isolate was further confirmed by sequencing of the ITS region of ribosomal DNA. After treatment with oral itraconazole, he had marked clinical improvement.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India, for providing financial aid for National Culture Collection of Pathogenic Fungi (NCCPF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, 160012, India

    Gagandeep Singh, M. R. Shivaprakash, Prerna Gupta, Sunita Gupta & Arunaloke Chakrabarti

  2. Department of Dermatology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, 160012, India

    Dipankar De & A. J. Kanwar

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  1. Gagandeep Singh
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  2. M. R. Shivaprakash
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  3. Dipankar De
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  4. Prerna Gupta
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  6. A. J. Kanwar
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  7. Arunaloke Chakrabarti
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Correspondence to Arunaloke Chakrabarti.

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Singh, G., Shivaprakash, M.R., De, D. et al. Chronic Disfiguring Facial Lesions in an Immunocompetent Patient Due to Exophiala spinifera: A Case Report and Review of Literature. Mycopathologia 174, 293–299 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-012-9548-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-012-9548-5

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