Background: Pytiriasis versicolor is an infectious disease caused by several Malassezia species which has a tendency to become relapsing or chronic.
Objectives: This study was conducted in an attempt to investigate the clinical course of pityriasis versicolor with regard to the number of relapses after a 12-month therapy and correlate this number with isolates of Malassezia species.
Material and methods: 102 patients with clinical and laboratory diagnosis of pityriasis versicolor were monitored for 12 months to investigate the number of relapsing episodes of the disease.
Results: After appropriate treatment, pityriasis versicolor presented three types of clinical course: pityriasis versicolor without relapsing episodes (32.35%), relapsing pityriasis versicolor with one to four relapsing episodes (52.94% ) due to associated predisposing factors, and chronic pityriasis versicolor with more than four relapsing episodes (14.70%) with no relation to predisposing factors.
Conclusions: The clinical course of pityriasis versicolor varied according to the number of relapsing episodes of the disease analyzed over a period of 12 months and can be classified as follows: pityriasis versicolor with clinical and mycological clearing, relapsing pityriasis versicolor and chronic pityriasis versicolor.