Problems of resistant dermatophytes. Recalcitrant fungal infections are defined as infections that are difficult or impossible to eradicate despite seemingly adequate treatment with appropriate oral or parenteral antibiotics. Relative or absolute microbial resistance is only one of the many causes of recalcitrance. Others include failure of the patient to comply with the prescribed treatment regimen, drug degradation in the liver, drug-drug interactions, reabsorption or washout of the drug from the stratum corneum, and failure of the drug to reach the stratum corneum. Excretion in the eccrine sweat is the principal pathway by which griseofulvin and ketoconazole, the two currently available oral antifungal agents, are delivered to the stratum corneum. Measures that promote delivery of these drugs to this site by enhancing sweating and minimizing drug run-off and absorption onto clothing may aid in optimizing the therapeutic response to these agents. 