In patients with dermatophytosis, virgin coconut oil and 1% Clotrimazole cream have comparable efficacy when used topically in combination with oral Terbinafine.

To distinguish between the effectiveness of 1% Clotrimazole cream and virgin coconut oil as an adjuvant to systemic antifungal agents for dermatophytosis.

Hundred patients diagnosed with tinea infection presenting to the dermatology outpatient department were included in this randomized controlled trial. They were randomly segregated into 2 groups. Patients in the first group received virgin coconut oil (Group 1, number of patients = 50) while the patients in the other group were asked to apply 1% Clotrimazole cream twice daily (Group 2, number of patients = 50).

Mycological cure was evaluated by potassium hydroxide mount. Objective measures included severity score for the itch, and variations in clinical signs and symptoms by Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire. SPSS software version 17 was used to examine statistical analysis.

When used along with systemic antifungal, the virgin coconut oil and 1% Clotrimazole had an equivocal response after twelve weeks of treatment in terms of severity of itch, potassium hydroxide mount positivity, clinical improvement, and alterations in DLQI scores.

Virgin coconut oil (emollient and antifungal) can be considered an effective and economical topical therapy that can be used along with systemic antifungals to ease the signs and symptoms of dermatophytosis.