If you starting noticing flaky scales formation on your skin, it could probably be a condition called seborrheic dermatitis or simply seborrhea. This is a very common skin disease found in people of all ages, which has similar characteristics of eczema, psoriasis, or allergic reactions. It can appear anywhere on the body as well as on the scalp. There are many triggering factors for seborrheic dermatitis. These triggering factors can be any one of the below or a combination of these as;
- Your genome structure.
- Skin yeast infection.
- Side effects of certain medicines or medical conditions.
- Daily life or work stress.
- Cold and dry weather.
If you witness any such infection on your skin or scalp, the immediate first thing to do is to consult a dermatologist, who will be doing some basic examinations to diagnose the condition. Once if you hear it from your physician that you have seborrheic dermatitis, the immediate question patients ask may be
“Whether seborrheic dermatitis cause hair loss? If so, can it be reversed?”
Well, having healthy long hair is everyone’s dream and losing it for any cause may result in tampering one’s confidence and self-esteem. Further, we will try to discuss the answers to above questions. At the first point, one need to know that seborrheic dermatitis may cause intense hair loss.
But, there is no need to get worried. This is not an incurable disease and there are various hair restoration treatments, which can ensure full hair loss recovery. However, the key to success in seborrheic dermatitis treatment is timely diagnosis and administration of right therapeutic protocols. For this, one needs to immediately consult a specialist and discuss ways to stop hair loss due to seborrheic dermatitis.
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Causes of Seborrheic Dermatitis hair loss
Pityrosporum Ovale, which is a lipophilic fungus (yeast like) cause this condition. This fungus is there inhibited in almost 90 percent of people. In a generally healthy human with good immunity, the spores of this fungus are kept inactive. When some favorable factors come together, it gets active. This fungus feeds on the secretions of our sebaceous glands.
It is our face and scalp where there are the most number of sebaceous glands located, so usually, this condition affects primarily the scalp and face. In such unfavorable conditions as listed above, our body’s mechanism to monitor this fungus fails, which triggers the onset of seborrheic dermatitis and associated hair loss.
The activation of this otherwise dormant fungus can be caused by any hormonal or immune disorders. The onset of seborrheic dermatitis on the scalp can be triggered by stress, strenuous activities, excessive exercising, or exposure to quick climate changes etc.
Seborrheic Dermatitis on Scalp Symptoms
The general symptoms present gradually and the first sign could be flaky skin. Symptoms may appear anywhere on the skin, most commonly on the face, behind ears, skin folds, and scalp. The flakes can be white, yellowish, or grayish. Flaking can also occur around the forehead, near to eyelashes, sides of nose, chest, and upper back etc. In severe cases of seborrheic dermatitis, you can see red to yellowish scaly pimples alongside the hairline, eyebrows, under the ears, inside the ear canal, nasal bridge, chest, or upper back.
It can also affect infants lesser than three months, which causes reddish, thick, oily crust around the hairline and on the scalp. Itching is typical in the case of adults, but not so common in infant seborrheic dermatitis. In infants, a diaper rash shows up immediately after the scalp rash. In the case of infants, the condition subsides on its own without any treatment in a few days. The adult seborrheic dermatitis may last from a few weeks to many years. In many cases, the patients experience infrequent periods of inflammation repeatedly. Self-care in the case of seborrheic dermatitis is always unsuccessful.
In adult seborrheic dermatitis, there is pronounced inflammation in the form of papules. You can see them having dark red foci and greasy scales. Such lesions grow and spread if the disease is left untreated. With excessive peeling, the patient’s scalp gradually gets covered with thick scales glued with sebum. If you peel them off, there will be pink inflamed skin surface attached to it and this may often get painful too. Itching is a common symptom, which can cause further infection. The peel-off scales can be seen on your hair and on clothing.
Formation of dandruff is the classic precursor of seborrheic dermatitis. If you have excess dandruff related cosmetic problem, do consult a doctor. Check it at a skin specialist to identify increased Pityrosporum Ovale activity, which may be seborrheic dermatitis. Further symptoms can be excessive redness, the formation of growing plaques, and scaling.
The problem of hair loss starts at the onset of seborrheic dermatitis, which cures only after this condition is fully cured. The reassuring fact is that you can restore your full hair loss due to this condition with therapeutic methods without the need for hair transplant or other procedures.
Seborrheic Dermatitis hair loss Treatment
The ideal treatment for this condition consists of an integrated approach. The treatment modality of seborrheic dermatitis aims at not only fighting the clinical manifestations of this condition but identifying the contributing factors in your body and lifestyle and correcting them. The standard treatment course administered by specialists are as listed below; however, never try this yourself without the direction of a certified healthcare administrator.
- Adjusting your diet may be the first course of action with by avoiding all types of allergic food items.
- Ensure an optimum supply of vitamin A, B, C, zinc and selenium in food.
- Use of topical antifungal agents. Visit a skin specialist to get an ideal remedy prescribed. Usual drugs used are miconazole and Nizoral.
- If the flake formation is in excessive with dense layers all over, it may be a barrier to the effective application of the remedies. To get rid of it, pre-application of ointments and oils is suggested.
- Use only medicated shampoos and soaps containing zinc and keratolytic components, which can eliminate excessive sebum production and avoid dryness of skin.
Seborrheic dermatitis is the major cause of seborrheic dermatitis hair loss, so you should not downplay the formation of dandruff as it can be a clear pointer to this impending disease condition and hair loss problems.
