Wood’s lamp is an ultraviolet light (“black light”) with a wavelength of 365 nanometers) which has a number of uses in dermatology. One use is to identify possible pathogens for skin infections.
Organism
Appearance
Candida
negative
Corynebacterium minutissimum (erythrasma)
coral red
Malassezia furfur (tinea versicolor)
yellow to gold
Microsporum species
blue-green
Propionobacterium acnes
orange
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
green
Trichophyton
negative
where:
• Microsporum is grows on the surface while Trichophyton tends to grow witin the hair shaft.
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