Summary In 60 patients with chronic paronychia, Candida was found in the paronychia in 39 patients (C. albicans in 30 of them), in the vagina in 8 patients (C. albicans in 7 of them) and in the mouths in 47 patients (C. albicans in 40 of them). In the mouths of a control group of 60 female patients of comparable age, Candida was found in only 30 (C. albicans in 24). The incidence of Candida in the mouth was not affected by the presence of “predisposing factors” nor was there any difference in candidal carriage rate in paronychia and mouths of subjects in the fertile period and those in the menopause. C. albicans was present in the vagina in the fertile period only. The incidence of chronic paronychia was less in the 5th decade than in either the 4th or 6th decades.

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SUMMARY The infected fingers in chronic paronychia were mostly on the dominant hand. Little fingers were less and middle fingers more affected than expected. Oral Candida albicans carriage was significantly less when the first finger to be infected was the middle finger. The duration of the disease was related to the number of infected fingers, but not to oral C. albicans carriage. The second finger to be infected was an opposite* or adjacent finger more often than expected. The following conclusions are drawn: (i) The mouth and the bowel, but not the vagina, of the patient, or her family, are sources of C. albicans in chronic paronychia. (2) Mechanical trauma that destroys the cuticle is responsible for the invasion of C. albicans into the nail‐fold. (3) This trauma in our patients is mostly due to rubbing during hand‐washing of clothes.

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