Diagnostic Essentials for Superficial Dermatomycosis in Chinese medicine:
1. Tinea Capitis
White Tinea: It often occurs in children of school age, related to a history of close contact with the patients or this disease or sick cat and dog, manifested by gray and white desquamative plaques in round or irregular forms scattering on the scalp, with dry and lustreless hair in the focus, and broken 2-3 mm away from the scalp, encircled with white fungus sheath at the roots, spontaneous pruritus, slow development, till it is cured automatically in adolescence.

Yellow Tinea: It often occurs in children and occasionally in adults, related to a history of close contact with the patients of this disease, dirty, yellow and thick crust in butterfly shape on the scalp, in a size of a coin primarily, gradually on the whole scalp after a long duration, with the center adhered and penetrated with hair. The hair is dry and yellow in color and is easy to bend and pull off, but not easy to break. After the crust is removed, atrophic scar is shown underneath and a permanent alopecia ensues. Spontaneous pruritus exists and secondary infection often occurs to form abscess, in a long duration. It subsides in adolescence, but it lingers for a long time, if not treated.

2. Tinea Manuum and Tinea Pedis
It often occurs in the palm, sole and between toes, manifested primarily by blisters in the size of the needle tip. After the blisters are dried up, it is possible to form annular erythema and desquamation, leading to large patches of irregular desquamative erythema or thickened, coarse and rhagadiform skin in the infected areas. In tinea occurring in the toes, immersion is often covered with white skin, accompanied by stink smell and exposed with red wound and effusion, and characterized by chronic duration, repeated attacks and progressive aggravation.

3. Tinea Unguium (Nail mycosis)
It often occurs in the adults, related to a history of tinea manuum and tinea pedis, manifested primarily by yellow and white spots on the distal end or bilateral sides of the nail, gradually spreading to the whole nail and under the nail, and leading to thickened, fragile, uneven and lustreless nail, in gray or brown color, or leading to thin and curled nail with hollow space, or thickened nail with its margin in alveolate erosion.

4. Tinea Corporis (Tinea Cruris)
It often occurs in the face, neck, body trunk, arm and thigh. The skin rashes are in round or irregular erythema in different sizes, and spontaneously cured in the center with annular, concentric or polycyclic forms, and the nearby skin lesions stick together to be a flower circular form and developed continuously outwards, accompanied by papule, blister and crust, scale and obvious pruritus. The tinea occurring in the medial aspect of the thigh and hip is termed tinea cruris and the skin lesion can be thick in infiltration.

5. Tinea Versicolor
It often occurs in the neck, chest, hip and proximal parts of the four limbs, manifested by skin lesions in different size, in round and irregular plaques with clear margin, in light brown or deep brown color, attached with bran-like scale, slight pruritus and no spontaneous symptoms. It often attacks in summer and is alleviated or cured in winter.