| Summary: | <i>Candida auris</i> readily colonizes skin and efficiently spreads among patients in healthcare settings worldwide. Given the capacity of this drug-resistant fungal pathogen to cause invasive disease with high mortality, hospitals frequently employ chlorhexidine bathing to reduce skin colonization. Using an ex vivo skin model, we show only a mild reduction in <i>C. auris</i> following chlorhexidine application. This finding helps explain why chlorhexidine bathing may have failures clinically, despite potent in vitro activity. We further show that isopropanol augments the activity of chlorhexidine against <i>C. auris</i> on skin. Additionally, we find both tea tree (<i>Melaleuca alternifolia</i>) oil and lemongrass (<i>Cymbopogon flexuosus</i>) oil to further enhance the activity of chlorhexidine/isopropanol for decolonization. We link this antifungal activity to individual oil components and show how some of these components act synergistically with chlorhexidine/isopropanol. Together, the studies provide strategies to improve <i>C. auris</i> skin decolonization through the incorporation of commonly used topical compounds.
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