The clinical nomenclature for the fungal infections of the hair, nail, skin, and subcutaneous tissues is often confusing upon first encounter. A general overview to this area is found below, and it provides one consistent scheme for thinking about this area. Used for infections due to melanin-producing, or dematiaceous, species of moulds.
Melanin is a black pigment, and fungi that produce melaning are visible black or brown.
The term applies to fungal structures in tissue or clinical specimens whether or not the melanin is visible without special stains. The Fontana-Masson stain is used to identify melanin in the cell walls of the fungus. The actual morphology in the tissue may consist of any combination of hyphae, pseudohyphae, or yeast cells of the infection causing fungus. A detailed discussion on Phaeohyphomycosis and its subtypes is also available. These three genera have an especially strong association with fungal infections of the skin, hair, and nails.