Objective: At least one million people are suffering from dermatophytosis in India. These mycoses although normally not lethal are unpleasant, frequent disease recurrence, and resistant dermatophytic strains cause considerable economic losses. During the antifungal evaluation of essential oil of Eugenia caryophyllus, all concentrations were found to be an excellent inhibitor against selected fungi as compared to standard antifungal drugs griseofulvin, ketoconazole, and itraconazole. The present work deals with the preparation of an ointment from E. caryophyllus oil for the treatment of ringworm infection in human beings.
Materials and Methods: Due to these potent fungicidal properties, an ointment of E. caryophyllus was prepared and topically applied on tinea patients attending the outpatient Department of Skin, Venereology, and Leprology, SMS Hospital, Jaipur. Patients were diagnosed as tinea corporis, tinea capitis, tinea manuum, and tinea barbae. The medication was done twice a day for 3 weeks as advised by the skin specialist.
Results: All patients showed positive potassium hydroxide (KOH) results at the beginning of the trial. After the 2nd week of treatment, every patient was KOH negative and remained negative when re-examined after one month of treatment. All patients were completely cured within 3 weeks of the treatment.
Conclusions: Ointment showed excellent results, found cheaper substitutes to cure the disease without any adverse side effect. The present study offers a high possibility of complete cure of tinea infection and suggesting its uses as raw material by pharmaceutical industries for the development of antidermatophytic drug in prevailing conditions where dermatophytes are becoming resistant against popular antifungals
