The epidemiology of onychomycoses in Istanbul, Turkey.

Between September 1995 and September 1997, 1840 patients attending our mycology department were suspected as having onychomycoses. Of the patients 985 were females and 855 were males. A total of 426 finger nail and 1414 toe nail scrapings were examined. Both microscopic and culture tests were carried out for each specimen. In 759 cases positive fungal cultures were found and 1081 cases were determined as negative. One fungal species was isolated from 715 specimens, in 44 of the cases two different species were found.