Hair perforation by keratinophilic fungi.

The in vitro hair perforation test as described by Ajello and George, was applied to eight species of Chrysosporium and one species each of Microsporum and Trichophyton. Six of them were found to perforate hair while four were negative. Chr. keratinophilum, M. gypseum and Tr. vanbreuseghemii were able to perforate and degrade hair rapidly. The micromorphological changes were also described.