r/SebDerm

I already know I have seborrheic dermatitis (usually on my scalp), but it recently spread to my face - specifically around the creases
of my nose and between my brows.

It gets super itchy, yellow flaky, and gets so tight and cracked that it occasionally bleeds.

Here’s the thing: I have sensory issues (autism) and genuinely cannot stand the feeling of moisturisers, so I never use moisturiser on the rest of my face at all. The only time I put any on is right on those flare-up spots when they get bad.

The confusing part is that : When I put my regular moisturiser on, the flakes seems like it disappear and my skin is back to normal , but a day or two later if I forget to use the moisturiser the flakes come back.

My Routine Right Now:
-Cleanser: Vanicream Facial Cleanser (super gentle, fragrance-free)
-Moisturiser: Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser (fragrance-free, sensitive skin) with niacinamide and pro vitamin B)

Why does my moisturiser seem to help for a sec and then make it worse? And how do I fix the bleeding bits without burning my face off? Any product recs easily available in the UK. Help a girl out pls!!

I am at my wits end with this condition om my scalp. It is TRULY ruining my life quality. I’ve lost SO much hair over the years, and the itching is driving me insane.
My dermatologist diagnosed me with Sebderm many years ago, although he did not even run tests or anything, he just looked at my scalp and concluded sebderm.

I’ve tried A LOT of different things over the years, from prescription to over the counter, NOTHING has helped so much. So what the hell do I do? As a woman, my hair loss is making me so miserable.. 😭

I developed seb derm for the first time about 2 months ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to manage it. What has me wondering about the bigger picture is that I’ve had several inflammatory skin issues over the past year that I never dealt with before.

After some traumatic life events, I developed daily hives that lasted about 4–6 months. Taking an antihistamine daily helped, and those eventually went away. A few months later, I developed a rash around my mouth that my dermatologist diagnosed as perleche/angular cheilitis, along with eyelid eczema. I dealt with those for several months using prescribed treatments (including hydrocortisone and ketoconazole), and eventually both cleared up.

Then, about 2 months ago, I developed seborrheic dermatitis around my nose. My dermatologist prescribed hydrocortisone + ketoconazole again. I’ve been using them for a few weeks. It seems to help, but whenever I stop the hydrocortisone and just continue with ketoconazole alone, the inflammation/itch seems to come back.

I’ve always struggled with acne, but I’ve never had hives, eyelid eczema, perleche, or seb derm until this past year. When I research all of these issues, inflammation seems to be a common thread.

Has anyone else experienced a similar pattern or noticed a connection between these conditions and overall inflammation/stress? If so, have you found anything that helped reduce these issues from the “inside out” or prevent them from constantly coming back?

I know prescription treatments may still be necessary for flares, but I’m interested in anything that has helped address potential underlying factors as well.

Would love to hear other people’s experiences!

I’m thinking about buying some mct oil to try it out, i currently use nizoral shampoo which worked for a while but stopped working. Do you guys use mct oil with any conditioner or moisturizer for your hair or will it work as one after shampooing?

Intro
I feel like too much emphasis is placed on managing the condition rather than finding a fully effective solution that can be used long term. Typical treatments such as antifungals target the yeast, but the yeast is a normal occurance on everyone's scalp, so that must not be the root cause (apart from cases where there really is a significant overgrowth of malassezia, but this is not true for all cases especially after antifungal treatment). I believe the immune response is the real issue that should be targeted.
Easier said than done, some strong medicine can provide changes to it but side effects and a lack of evidence complicate things.

Immune-system manipulation
Some meds suppress the immune system (rarely but can be used for seb derm). The issue with this is you obviously do need your immune system.
Immunoregulators have a similar goal of suppressing immune pathways, but more targeted, retaining alternative immune pathway functionality.
An example of this is zoryve, inhibits PDE4 -> increases cAMP -> "freezes" overactive immune cells only. This leaves the rest of the immune system functioning as intended.
In seborrheic dermatitis this cleared 50% of patients in some trials. This is pretty much on par with topical steroids (which is an immunomodulator, so it cant be used long term), but can actually be used long term.

Anti-inflammatory
Simple supplements like omega-3s and specific lifestyle factors will target this.

More complicated version with much less evidence and more just going off on a whim, but I would like to know your opinions on KLOW peptide blend, specifically KPV because of its multi-factoral (theoretical) benefits:

1. Antimicrobial properties
2. Anti-inflammatory
3. Barrier restoration

and with the rest of the KLOW blend extra anti inflammatory and skin benefits may be seen.

Conclusion
In my experience I never benefited much from antifungal shampoos, and could never find a long term solution I was never really happy with because every treatment plan I tried out was just making it livable, not a state I wanted to sustain.
I think there could be a real solution within immunology, development in this area is slow as expected due to the high side effect risk and complicated mechanisms to actually be able to target the immune system, but I want to know your thoughts on if this is as important as I think it is, and if there is any feasible ways to tackle this.

i’ve had my sebderm under control for over a year. there are breakouts every time seasons change but i’ve managed to keep it under control. i have no flakes or itching. but i can’t do anything about the smell. my scalp starts smelling horrible just 2 days after i hairwash. its really affecting my social life making me self conscious when i get close to people. at this point i dont even care about fixing the source of the problem, im okay with just masking the smell somehow without flaring up. i’d prefer some natural remedy or something that’s readily available for cheap.

i’m was thinking of maybe applying some dry shampoo or clotrimazole powder on my scalp to slow down the fungal activity

if anyone has solved this specific problem, please share your experience.

my routine:

i apply ACV to break the biofilm followed by my shampoo. i cycle ketoconazole and ciclopirox twice a week. i condition my hair (with a malassezia safe product) and dab mct oil on damp scalp.

Hi everyone! Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to share my experience and see if anyone has gone through something similar.

I initially neglected my seborrheic dermatitis, and after going through a pretty stressful year, I finally visited a dermatologist in May this year. I was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis, but the dermatologist told me that my hair follicles were still in good condition. Since then, I've been following the prescribed routine and washing my hair every day. My dermatologist recommended a medicated shampoo to reduce the inflammation, as well as a volumizing shampoo as part of my hair care routine.The good news is that the redness and itching have now disappeared, so the treatment seems to have helped with the inflammation. However, I've noticed that my hair lengths have become quite dry, and I'm worried about the hair becoming fragile and breaking.I've also noticed that the hair at the front doesn't seem to grow as it used to. I'm not sure whether this could be related to the dermatitis, the stress I've been through, or the condition of my hair in general.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Could the frontal hair growth improve over time once the scalp inflammation is under control, or should I get it checked again by my dermatologist? Is it normal to need some time for the hair growth cycle to recover?I'm also wondering whether the dryness is related to washing my hair every day, the shampoos I'm using, or a combination of factors. How did you manage to keep your seborrheic dermatitis under control while also taking care of dry hair lengths? Did you find a conditioner, hair mask, or a particular routine that helped without irritating your scalp?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you might have. Thanks for reading!

Are there any hair oils (not for scalp) that are safe to use? Not MCT or Squalane, I mean like hair products specifically as a finishing oil/serum or heat protectant oil etc.

I'd love to have an oil to put on my ends of the hair but non-safe ones end up making me musty.

Does anyone know of any hair oils/serums that are safe?

I'm in the process of formulating not only mustache styling waxes that are completely seb safe but also conditioning balms. Is there any interest in this?

I HATE IT I HATE SEBDERM I can't have long hair bc of this shit it just keeps coming back i recently bought another new shampoo specifically for this sebderm after I stopped using ketoconazole shampoo, I don't want to lose my hair after using these medical shampoos

My question is why isn't there a permanent solution for sebderm? Like what's preventing us?

Hello, I have seborrheic dermatitis and have a huge problem, my eyebrows are falling off, 5 hairs daily, I don’t know what to do. 2 weeks ago it got supper itchy and i avoid scratching. But now my eyebrows are falling off. I have a little inflammation and flaking. I saw online to use Ketenokazole but I fear that isn’t working. What else can I do?

I have been using MCT oil intermittently to treat SD for the past month with great results. But, does anyone know if there are negative side effects of using it long-term? I've been wondering - although it kills off the fungus that causes SD, could this potentially disrupt the skin microbiome with prolonged use?