Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffYour doctor can determine if you have jock itch or another skin disorder, such as a dermatitis or psoriasis.
Your doctor may take skin scrapings or samples from the infected area and view them under a microscope. This is called a potassium hydroxide (KOH) test. If a sample shows fungi, treatment may include an antifungal medication. If the test is negative, but your doctor still suspects that you have jock itch, a sample may be sent to a lab to determine whether it will grow fungi under the right conditions. This test is known as a culture. Your doctor may also order a culture if your condition doesn't respond to treatment.
- Hainer BL. Dermatophyte infections. American Family Physician. 2003;67(1):101-108.
- Goldstein A, et al. Dermatophyte (tinea) infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug, 25, 2008.
- Nadalo D, et al. What is the best way to treat tinea cruris? The Journal of Family Practice. 2006;55(3):256-258.
- Gupta AK, et al. Optimal management of fungal infections of the skin, hair, and nails. American Journal of Clinical Dermatology. 2004;5(4):225-237.
- Diflucan (prescribing information). New York, N.Y.: Pfizer; 2008.
- Grifulvin V (prescribing information). Raritan, N.J.: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation; 1997.
- Lawrence Gibson (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Sept. 9, 2008.
