Out of millions of different species, only 300 fungi are known to cause illness or infection. That’s still a high amount, so you can be forgiven for not knowing all the different types fungal infections. While some are common and relatively mild, some rare ones pack quite a punch. White piedra is one of those. Read on to learn more about it.
What Is It?
White piedra is a fungal infection of the superficial variety. It affects our hair follicles. It’s caused by a yeast organism known as Trichosporon beigelii. It shows up as little white dots on our hair. It can also affect eyebrows, beards, and pubic hair.
Are There Symptoms?
As with any fungal infection, white piedra has some specific symptoms. The white flecks on our hair that characterize it is the most visual symptom. It can also cause our hair to become gritty and brittle. This results in stands of hair breaking off. It can then progress to cause pain and itching around the roots of the hair.
The white spots sometimes make people diagnose it as lice. However, it’s different to lice in the sense that its itching is not as severe. White piedra is also a lot easier to remove than lice.
How Do I Treat It?
Some people may not like this option, but to fully treat it you need to remove it. This means shaving off the infected hair, whether it’s your head or mustache. From there, you can slowly rid yourself of all excessive fungus by taking oral antifungal medications.
In Conclusion
Hair can be such a main component of anyone’s confidence levels. So, when our hair is affected by a fungal infection, it’s never fun. White piedra is on the rare end of the scale, but it still has the potential to wreak havoc on your hair if you become infected.
