What is seborrheic dermatitis?
Seborrheic dermatitis is a disease that causes inflammation of the scalp and other areas of the body, resulting in severe itching. It often has similar characteristics to rosacea and for this reason can be difficult to diagnose, and sometimes the two conditions occur at the same time.
Prognosis of the disease
Seborrheic dermatitis is a chronic, relapsing disease; if treated properly, the symptoms may subside and a worsening can be avoided, but very often it cannot be completely cured. In addition, the disease usually becomes more severe in winter, while it decreases in summer.
Therefore, it is advisable for people suffering from seborrheic dermatitis to have a thorough knowledge of the characteristics of this disease in order to be able to live with it and fight its symptoms.
Seborrheic dermatitis can be aggravated depending on the weather or the season: it is usually more intense in winter and decreases in summer.
Symptoms of seborrheic dermatitis
The most common symptoms of seborrheic dermatitis are as follows:
- Itching or painful symptomatology.
- Dandruff appears on the hair, beard hair and eyebrows.
- Very oily and reddened skin on different parts of the body
- Crusting of the scalp
- Seborrheic blepharitis (inflammation of the skin of the eyelids)
- Cradle cap formation on the scalp in infants
- Redness, inflammation or scaling of areas such as the nose, cheeks, ears, armpits, groin, shoulders.
Diagnosis of seborrheic dermatitis
Your dermatologist will rely on the following methods to diagnose this disorder:
- Objective analysis: the physician will examine the scalp and other parts of the body presenting the symptoms described above and request the patient’s medical history (especially if he/she is taking certain medications and if he/she is familiar with dermatitis problems).
- Biopsy and/or blood tests: may be necessary to make sure that the patient’s condition is seborrheic dermatitis and not other skin diseases with similar characteristics, such as atopic dermatitis, rosacea, psoriasis or ringworm.
What are the causes of seborrheic dermatitis?
The following are the main reasons for the occurrence of seborrheic dermatitis:
- Inflammation of the skin is caused by a fungus called Malassezia furfur, which finds its perfect growth medium on the scalp, where the sebaceous glands are particularly active; in fact, the fungus proliferates in the presence of sebum
- Genetic causes
- Stress
- Hormonal problems
- Taking corticosteroid-based medications
- Autoimmune diseases
- Lack of hygiene and use of aggressive cleaning products
- Living in very hot and humid places
- Touching your hair too often or over-tightening it
Can it be prevented?
Although it is very difficult to eliminate seborrheic dermatitis completely, the symptoms can be combated by following a few recommendations:
- Wear clothing made of cotton or other natural fibers
- Choose mild detergents
- Eliminate fried or spicy foods, sausages, cured cheeses, alcoholic or carbonated beverages from your diet.
- Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
- Avoid scratching (a habit that favors the appearance of new infections because it worsens inflammation and creates new skin lesions).
- Avoid touching your hair excessively
Treatments for seborrheic dermatitis
Your dermatologist will be able to guide you in the choice of products such as:
Shampoos suitable to counteract the action of the fungus causing the disease.
Medications based on hydrocortisone-based products
Products to counteract hair loss (one of the consequences of seborrheic dermatitis).
Which specialist should be consulted?
It is always advisable to consult a physician specializing in dermatology.