Using dandruff shampoo to treat tinea versicolor is a myth. It rarely works. I've had it for 31 years. I tried all the Selsun treatments. All that did was make me smell like sulfur. Canestan cream does nothing. Two things that I've found that work really well are: Take regular probiotics; yogurts, Yakult, or Inner Health Plus capsules. It helps keep the internal yeast manifestations in check. (A buildup of yeast in the body gets excreted through the skin). To treat the affected areas topically, I've found Whitfield's Ointment (Benzoic Acid) to be by far and away the quickest method of killing the yeast infection. It burns a little and is greasy, but it works. Apply it for two days in a row, just two hours per day. Then wash it off (which isn't that easy). It's worth the effort. For darker, reddish spots, they will just fade away. For the white spots, you will need exposure to the sun to tan them a little. I get both; the reddish/brown spots and the white spots. You never really get rid of this; you just have to treat it when it appears. The probiotics do help keep it to a minimum.

I have had tinea versicolor for about twenty years, since I was a teenager. I was diagnosed when I was about 18 years. It's worst underneath my breasts, and the sides of my breasts. It covers my whole torso, a little in my inner elbows, and a tiny blotch on my inner thigh that doesn't hurt. And up my neck a little too (wrinkley looking). It's dry, itchy, gets cracked, and painful on my torso. I've tried selsun blue, other medicated lotions, anti-fungal cream, tea tree cream, anti-fungal tablets and nothing has worked. I put moisturiser on it daily to relieve the pain from the extreme dryness - particularly in winter when the heater and the air is dry. Plus fresh bra daily, so no old sweat. I care more about the pain than the disfigurement.

I have had tinea versicolor for about three years now. I have been to dermatologists three times, and they gave me a pill that I took once a week for six weeks. That worked, but sadly, it reappeared around three months later. I have tried antifungal creams, shampoos, pills, everything! I don't know what else to do. This disease is so embarrassing and will always ruin my summers! Tinea versicolor covers my back, neck, shoulders, chest, and stomach.

I was diagnosed with tinea versicolor about two months ago. I noticed it first on my stomach, and it started spreading to the rest of my body (shoulders, feet, back, stomach, under my breasts, inner thighs, arms, and a little in the face). My doctor told me to use Selsun Blue. It appears to be fading but very, very slowly. I wish there was a way to rush it because I don't like looking at it. I still don't understand how I got it. No one in my family has a history of it. I thought it was because I take really hot showers. It's kind of embarrassing when out in public.

I am absolutely miserable, I have had this since I was 13 years old, ketoconazole doesn't even work anymore. the last time I had it, it was from head to toe, literally, I took the ketoconazole, and it went away for a month and came back with a vengeance, I'm so itchy I take claritin every day, I have no insurance I do not know what to do anymore, I can't even where decent clothing because it's all over my body, I look like a leopard.

I had itchy white patches on arms and chest for 4 years. I was miserable, my husband has it and he has scabs and bleeds all of the time it is disgusting. After 4 years i finally found a doctor with somewhat of a brain and gave me lamasil tablets and I took them for 3 months. My white patches and itchy bleeding skin is gone. My husband still has it but he does not care that he has disgusting scabs on his arms and chest. I will never know exactly what it is or where it came from. If I get it again I know to take lamasil for 3 months. Doctors need to research more and stop telling patients to use selsun blue or topical creams.