Crucial Exams

AAMA CMA Practice Question

Why is potassium hydroxide (KOH) routinely added when preparing a wet mount of skin, hair, or nail scrapings for microscopic examination?

  • To dissolve lipid-rich cell walls to reveal acid-fast bacilli.

  • To clear keratinized tissue so that fungal hyphae and yeast cells are more visible.

  • To stain Gram-negative bacilli blue-violet for easier identification.

  • To precipitate viral inclusion bodies so they appear refractile.

AAMA CMA
Clinical Competency
Your Score:
Settings & Objectives
Random Mixed
Questions are selected randomly from all chosen topics, with a preference for those you haven’t seen before. You may see several questions from the same objective or domain in a row.
Rotate by Objective
Questions cycle through each objective or domain in turn, helping you avoid long streaks of questions from the same area. You may see some repeat questions, but the distribution will be more balanced across topics.

Check or uncheck an objective to set which questions you will receive.

Wipe Score
Bash, the Crucial Exams Chat Bot
AI Bot