My son’s stuborn ring worm

My five year old son who attends a public school has had a Ring Worm infection on his head for the past 5 months. I have used all kinds of traditional and western medications for him to no success. Please help me before the infection destroys his head

Nkechi (by SMS)

Just like in every chronic condition, your son will benefit from the attention of a specialist doctor (Dermatologist) who will confirm or debunk your son’s ringworm infection. The dermatologist may also examine other areas of your body. It’s common to have athlete’s foot and ringworm on one or both hands. Sometimes, the infection spreads to one or more nails.

Before giving you the diagnosis, your dermatologist may send a bit of the infected skin and hair to a laboratory. By looking at the sample under a microscope, a doctor can see if it contains any of the fungi that cause ringworm. If your son actually has ringworm, the dermatologist will treat it with antifungal medicine. This medicine comes in many different forms like creams, ointments, and pills. It is important to take an antifungal medicine exactly as prescribed, and for as long as prescribed. The ringworm may fail to clear if you stop taking it sooner than prescribed. This can make it more difficult to get rid of the ringworm. Clearing scalp ringworm also often requires using an antifungal shampoo. In fact, everyone with whom the infected person lives needs to use an antifungal shampoo. Scalp ringworm is extremely contagious. When everyone uses antifungal shampoo, this helps prevent family members from infecting one other.