Ninety-eight patients with tinea versicolor were treated by a single overnight application of a 2.5% selenium sulfide suspension in a detergent vehicle. On initial follow-up evaluation there was complete or marked clinical involution of the infection in 90 subjects with elimination of fungi on microscopic examination in 81. Recurrence of infection was frequent in patients examined six or more months after initial treatment. The only complication was skin irritation, generally mild, in seven of 108 treatments.

Selenium sulfide appears to be the active agent, as no benefit was obtained by use of the detergent vehicle alone in nine patients.