Eczema or seborrheic dermatitis is an inflammatory process of the skin that occurs chronically in outbreaks, with the appearance of more or less extensive plaques of redness and desquamation in the so-called “seborrheic areas”.
These body areas are those with more sebaceous glands, such as the scalp – forming dandruff -, the eyebrow area or the nasolabial folds. Although these are the most frequent, it can also appear in other areas of the body, such as the retroauricular area, the ear canal, the central thoracic line or the pubis.
Causes of seborrheic dermatitis
Outbreaks of dermatitis are usually caused in connection with a trigger, the most common of which is stress. Psychological causes – such as situations of personal distress or unpleasant emotional states – are those that most often tend to favor its appearance.
Other factors that can increase the risk of suffering from it are, among others, exposure to extreme climates, chemical aggressions such as using topical products containing high percentages of alcohol, inadequate skin cleansing, having oily skin and body diseases such as acne or obesity.
Symptoms may take the form of itching, redness – although this does not necessarily occur in all cases -, peeling of the skin or hair loss – if it occurs on the scalp.
Treatments to combat it
The most common treatment is topical corticosteroids. Corticosteroids are a variety of hormones of the steroid group, i.e. they are produced by our adrenal glands. Applied through gels, creams or ointments, they have a high inflammation-reducing effect.
Other topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as pimecrolimus and tacrolimus can also be used.