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Superficial fungal infections with dermatophytes, nondermatophyte molds, or yeasts are treated primarily with topical and/or systemic antifungal agents. Additional or alternative treatment modalities, particularly energy-delivering modalities, however, are used widely to induce fungicidal effects via selective photothermal reactions. In addition to light- or laser-based devices, plasma therapy also has antifungal properties. This report describes a Korean male patient with mycologically confirmed tinea pedis that was treated effectively with two sessions of nitrogen plasma treatment at one-week intervals using a plasma delivering system. Nitrogen plasma was prepared by loading a 0.28-ml inert nitrogen gas/pulse that was activated by a microwave generator. The other treatment settings were a nozzle diameter of 5 mm, pulse energy of 0.75 J, pulse duration of 7 msec, and two passes. One week after the first session of nitrogen plasma treatment, the patient exhibited marked reductions in scale and inflammation. One month after the final treatment, no clinical features of recurrence were found, and successive potassium hydroxide testing revealed negative results.
We would like to thank Bora Kim (Shenb Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea) and Min Choi (Shenb Co.) for their assistance with technical support. We would also like to thank Anthony Thomas Milliken, ELS at Editing Synthase (https://editingsynthase.com) for his help with the editing of this manuscript.