Hi there, thanks for asking. It is a common problem, so I felt I can talk about it for you. The name of the situation is tinea versicolor. It is the most common skin condition caused by an organism. It is seen very frequently in the humid area. About 5 percent of the USA population has it, while many of them even do not leave in a humid area. It starts with one spot on the skin and gradually spreads to the other areas. There is usually no itching. It is not XXXXXXX Many people prefer to treat it because of the aesthetic aspects. Fortunately, it is not contagious so there is no risk of transmission. It is usually treated with topical ointments or shampoos and it is easily treated. If you control your sweating, it can help for prevention of its repetition in the future. I wish you a good health.

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Thanks for asking. It is better that your skin condition be observed and also inspected (and if necessary a specimen be sent to laboratory) by your doctor to see if it is versicolor. Don't worry so much about the shape of them, because if it is tinea versicolor, they manifest themselves as quite diverse shapes.

Tinea versicolor responds well to antifungal treatment. Therefore if it tinea versicolor, you may take some antifungal shampoo (like ketokonazole) or ointment to control it and if the involved skin area is vast, you may take the oral medication which would be easier.

You may also tell your doctor about any possible systemic health situation (like any immunologic issues, etc) since they may affect the evolution of the disease and also its treatment may be different.

Feeling fatigue could be a separate issue or it could be related to the skin condition. If you do not have an easy access to your doctor, you can send a picture of some part of your skin and then I will be able to talk about it much better.

I wish you a good health.

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Hi again there, thanks for your attention and follow up.

Even in "close contacts" as the way you mentioned, there is no risk of transmission. It is found on the surface of the skin of most of us, so the problem is not its transmission, but the fact that in some circumstances our skin and also are immune system could become vulnerable to the overgrowth of this organism.

Those medications you mentioned would be helpful, and they should be used at least for two weeks or more, depending on the situation and the type of the medication.

You have a feature to upload the reports/images by yourself on the right side of this query page. You may want to utilize it.

Alternatively, you may mail it to me at YYYY@YYYY with subject as "Attention to Dr. Hajiazim".

Let me know if you have any other question.

Best of health!

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Thank you for uploading the photos. The interesting point regarding tinea versicolor (which is a misnomer since it is not contagious and it is just because of overgrowth of skin saprophytes) is that people with dark skin show bright spots and people with white skin show pigmented spots.

I recommend that you start using the medication you have in hand (ketokonazole or selenium) and if you do not observe response after several days, go to your doctor to let him examine the texture of the spots since it is not possible to be done in the website.

Skin lesions are pretty similar to each other in many cases and sometimes doctors need to take biopsy and send it to the laboratory to see what it could be (it is a possibility). Now you have enough information to start and I wish it is resolved in a few days. I wish you the best health.

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