Seborric dermatitis

[maggiemay]

Please can someone tell me about seborric dermatitis. I have a bad patch of it under my arms, in the crease of my groins, between and under the breasts,on my back and badly in my scalp. Have seen a dermatologist who diagnosed it and gave me three different lotions/cream and shampoo. It got so bad that I had to take a week off work as I needed time for the lotions to soak into my hair and scalp. I am so afraid of losing my hair as it is caked in scales. I had a touch of it about five years ago and nothing since, was told it could be seasonal as I suffer with hay fever. I am so depressed, frightened and confused. Has anyone else suffered like this?

[spaced]

Hi
I had this through my teens it's a type of eczema it’s more likely to be caused by stress. I had on my arms and scalp. It could also be caused by cosmetics like shampoo and deoderant like an allergic reaction.

[countrygirl]

I have it on my scalp and in one eyebrow! My dr said it was an over reaction to a type of fungus that lives naturally on our skin - the creams and shampoos you have will be anti fungal ones if you read them. I have to say that to keep it away you need to use the creams shampoo for ever - I find that once it has cleared up then I need to use the anti fungal shampoo once a week or once every two weeks but if I forget then after about 6 months its back with a vengeance. I have never managed to get rid of my eyebrow patch for good - the cream clears it up for a couple of months but then it comes back.

You could try altering your diet as diet high in sugar and fungal food like bread/ cheese/ alcohol mushrooms etc makes you more prone to fungus infections. I also have sporadic attacks of ringworm which is again just a fungal infection despite its awful name.

some people are more prone than others and stress:huh: of course make you even more prone to it.

[MandySlade]

I've had it since my late teens and I'm 30 now. Sometimes I'll go months with no flare ups and other times I'll go a year with no breaks. I mostly get it on the back of my neck and in my hairline on the back of my neck, but I also get it on my groin and sometimes my armpits and even under my eyebrows right above my eyelids. Doctors have told everything from allergies to oil production to just plain genetics. I haven't been told the fungal thing though. When my flare ups are really bad the only thing that helps is a prescription strength topical steroid. I don't like using medication, so I only do when It gets really itchy or starts to look bad to others (on the back of my neck). I used to try keeping it really moist, because I thought maybe dryness was the problem, but I've recently found that (for me anyway) keeping it really moist seems to make it worse. So, I just try to wash those areas with mild soap no more than once a day (to prevent over drying) and if I moisturize I use something light and easily absorbed. I also find that wearing tight clothing on the area tends to make it worse too.

It's a pain in the ass, but it's not serious.

[JTemperance]

I first started to get this behind my ears, on my scalp, eyebrows, etc. about 18 months ago during a period of extreme nervous tension. I thought it was psoriasis but the doctor told me it was seborrheic dermatitis. They gave me ketoconazole cream to treat it, I think it is a type of steroid, and some ketoconazole shampoo. It has worked pretty well so far to control the outbreaks.

[countrygirl]

Ketoconozone is an anti fungal cream - some anti fungals also have weak steriod element added as well to reduce inflammation.

Stress does make us more prone to fungal infections