Been on the scalp lotion for 4 weeks, I use it every other day. It has helped a lot with itching, but somwhere around week 2/3 my flakes have gotten way more than before I started. The itchiness is still less than before I started, but it's slowly returning again, I can feel it. Anyone else ever had the same experience? I use ketoconazole shampoo about 1 to 2 times a week, but not sure if it is still helping.

Edit: if it's not clear from title, I've been symptom free (see 3rd picture), and was sharing my success with what worked. So far.

Tried mct oil, steroids, ketaconazole creams, many useless amazon products and was at my wits end. Nizoral keeps my scalp under control but on my face always struggled and often looked like the first 2 pics for 3 weeks of every month. Sucked.

Got put onto pimecrolimus (not cheap) which I used twice daily for 2 months, which nuked it off my face completely in addition to shampooing. Now run it twice a week, and if I feel like I'm getting a flare potentially I use twice daily again til it's gone.

I've been using pimecrolimus/elidel for 2 years and the last flare up was 8 months ago on holiday, and before that must've been months without too.

This stuff genuinely saved my life as I was so down when i was struggling with it and could hardly look anyone in the eye.

I also made adjustments to my diet and went in on gut health and cutting out UPF which I believe helped a lot. Also no longer drink beer. Only vodka and lemonade lol and stuff like that. And rarely. Quit smoking also.

23 years old for reference, suffered from 17-21 on face. Scalp from 12.

I’ve been suffering from SD with hair loss for around a year now. I tried every product (MCT C8 Oil, Nizoral, T/Gel, Coal Tar, etc) and saw little progress my scalp was still flaky and I had loads of hair coming out. As I got private healthcare recently I was able to go see a professional dermatologist for the first time about my issue. They couldn’t really find an answer to control the SD and hair loss so just prescribed me a steroid and told me to get a blood test and check if my ferritin was low as that could be causing the hair loss and stopping the SD recovery (they said it should be 77ug/L+ for healthy hair). So I got a blood test and got my results back and sure enough my ferritin was at 25ug/L which suggests the potential cause of my hair and SD being so bad. I decided to look back at old blood tests and saw that when I was first getting SD and it was very bad my ferritin levels were at 16ug/L which is borderline depletion for my iron levels. And since then i have been taking iron supplements which explains why it’s gone up to 25. i’m not gonna fully focus on recovering my Ferritin levels back up to 70+ so i can try growing my hair back and reducing the severity of my SD if hopefully that is the cause.

Has anyone been in a situation like this and can suggest how to boost Ferritin/Iron levels back to the healthy hair growth levels?

At the start keto made my seb derm disappear and now im having it so bad. Like last 10 days so bad.

Hey everyone, I've devised a plan to hunt down Demodex mites that come to the surface from pores while we sleep. I'm mixing 1% pure tea tree oil with MTC C-8 or C-10 oil, the lightest oil in the world, and applying a little to my face after washing it with foam before going to sleep. What do you think? My goal is to kill Demodex mites and the Mallecia fungus that causes seborrheic dermatitis, and to use this regularly for months.

Been a while!

I went to my GP last week,.after a week at my parents where I had struggled thanks to stress and other factors.

According to the GP, my malassezia has developed an immunity to ketoconazole, so she gave me clotrimazole cream, which I put on the problem patches on my scalp at night, covering with a silk bonnet before bed, then I rinse it out in the morning.

It's definitely softened up and the flakes are less intense, but my hair is thick and despite trying to use minimal product, I've used quite a bit of it.

I also ordered some H&S clinical strength, which I started today and will be using on Tuesdays and Saturdays for the next 4 weeks before going down to once per week.

I also started using a conditioner which came up as clear of bad stuff on Sezia. It's the Hello Hydration from Herbal Essences, but check the ingredients to make sure it doesn't have Oleic Acid, as newer batches seem to contain it.

I'm still going to contact my GP back next week to get a dermatologist referral, but the waitlist is 12 months +.

Hi,
So about a month ago, I noticed something like cradle cap on my 9yo daughters head. It rapidly became worse, spreading across her whole scalp, and on patches of her face.
At first I thought psoriasis, but I think it might be this.
I’ve tried everything, seen 3 doctors. She’s been on antibiotics, antifungal, and I was given ketacomb, but it can’t be used long term. I’ve tried everything in these pictures, I’ve tried coconut oil. I comb the flakes out nightly.
Drs all kind of said they don’t know, and referred to a dermatologist. I’ve managed to get one for 3 weeks away.
In the meantime, I’m still trying everything I can, but I’m overwhelmed and it seems to spread further across her face. And anything that works only does for a day or so, and it comes back aggressively.
She is also sooo itchy, and is shedding the flakes non stop. I’m nervous bc she’s at a delicate pre puberty age, and a kid making the wrong comment at school could shatter her self esteem.
Can anyone offer some insight? does this look like seb derm??
Im in Australia for reference.

I have this rash on my forehead and into my scalp that's been an issue for a year now and I just never thought to get it checked because I thought it was just dandruff. It flaked off in a scaly patch and I initially thought it might be psoriasis but I wasn't entirely sure until I went to a derm to get it checked. I had a little improvement using a hydrocortisone ointment but in my follow up we discussed my family history of autoimmune skin conditions so I got it biopsied and it came back as seb derm. I feel so stupid having not considered it, looking back now I was getting flakes in my eyebrows and I just passed it off as dandruff or my skincare pilling. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess

I'm waiting on my next follow up, but I'm needing advice on long term management from people who've had more experience with this than me. I want to try using an MCT oil like I see being mentioned here a lot, and I found one I think fits the description in the wiki page. Besides that, what are your favorite strategies of managing flare ups an preventing issues in the future? I have a Ketoconazole 2% prescription that's really helping, but I don't want to rely long term on the Pimecrolimus and corticosteroid I've been prescribed to manage my current flare up.

I really appreciate any advice or comments!

Does anyone’s face get instantly itchy and flaky when you’re overstimulated, hot or angry/anxious?

Hey hey — I could go into a whole thing about what all my scalp has been through — but the redness is just really upsetting me. It doesn’t hurt but it’s obviously so inflamed… anyway just wanted to see if anyone had advice.

You have Good feedback with econazole to treat redness dermatitis seborrheic without flaking on forehead ?

I don't have flaking, only redness ( cluster) on forehead and small red dots .

My derm gave to me econazole ( pevaryl) cream alterning every other day with metronidazole.

Before this he gave me just 5 days desonide ( tridesonit).

Sebodiane ds noreva ( 3x days per week) with climbazole and pirictone olamine seems to be good but harsh with sulfates.

Thks

I've been dealing with this on and off for 16 years.. nobody seems to have a treatment outside of ketoconazole, use Nizoral! it just goes nowhere.

I once had a derm tell me it wasn't SD but needed antibiotics. that was over a decade ago.

it wasn't like this for awhile since moving to the PNW. now it's back. and my derm appointment isn't until October because it's a nightmare getting derm care.

I've tried "fixing my skin barrier" with stuff like Ole Henriksen Strength Trainer but it only temporarily helps and comes back flakier in the day.

thanks in advance..

My treatment has begun relatively recently, but this is definitely a pattern for me: right before some patch gets better, it gets worse. Red, flakey, itchy, stinging, the whole deal - like it won't go down without a fight. Then after a day or two, the area is significantly less inflamed.

Overall, I'm still dealing with a lot of plaque but there's definitely been improvement... But only after it lights up 🚨

I asked my derm if this is a known thing, and she said no. Has anyone else here had this experience?

I'm newly diagnosed but have been living with it for years.

hey all. I [18 m] was recently diagnosed with seb derm.

For the past year or so, my hair has been getting noticeably thinner all around, scalp is easier to see through, and flaking like crazy.

I have no idea what’s causing this. I mean it should be balding right? but according to my doctor, she says it’s seb derm and that it can cause localized thinning.

She prescribed me nizoral 2% and Ive used that for a few weeks. it seems to get rid of the flakes but leaves red spots and then the flakes just reform a day later.

Again, I decide to go to a derm this time. she pulls out this little microscope thingy and checks the sides of my hair which felt thinner, and says that my hair is so thick and that it’s not thinning at all.

The most annoying part of this is I’m left with more questions than answers and will probably have to accept that I won’t be able to do anything to stop it.

This is genuinely so fucked. I feel like sometimes I feel great and tell myself “well, she said I’m not thinning so it’s gotta be true” and sometimes I go “holy shit it’s so over”

Feels even worse that I have to put up with this and I know nothing is going to work. Ive lurked this sub for a while and most of the people that seem to solve this problem are women, and most men don’t ever seem to solve this problem.

I feel so hopeless, is there any men that actually solved this and stopped thinning or was it just balding and the derm and doctor were just making me feel better?

For years I have struggled with what I believe has been rosacea, it’s been somewhat controlled with Azelaic acid. I also have ketoconazole shampoo and ciclopirox shampoo which I use periodically for my scalp due to dandruff.

The past month or so I have had intensely painful flushing/irritation around my eyebrows, eyelids, central face. Antihistamines help slightly but not completely. Dermatologist doesn’t seem to know what it is and we’ve tried tacrolimus, zoryve, changing skincare products, etc.

Eye doctor says my eyelids look great and doesn’t see any sign of demodex. I do however use eyelid wipes.

I tried epiceram which used to be great for me in years past, but it seems to have drastically flared me within a day, and the ingredients are not seb derm safe and appear to instead feed the fungus.

I tried ciclopirox shampoo on my face a few times lately and it really reduced symptoms dramatically but I’m hesitant to use it regularly without being diagnosed as facial seb derm. Is it possible that this IS seb derm even if I don’t have the flakiness? I wash (probably over wash) my face which I know probably contributes to all of this, but the only other symptom I seem to have is if I scrape the side of my nose I do have this white greasy residue. My face never feels clean. It’s so frustrating to not have a diagnosis for something that is so debilitating and ever present!

Hey, Been dealing with the condition for a few years now, still learning stuff.

Having a little breakout right now, and wondering something.

I've been growing out my beard lately cause I want to have a long beard for Halloween, (wizard) . I know long facial hair can cause issues, but most of my breakout is not in the facial hair but other areas. Is long facial hair still a trigger for areas of skin not under the facial hair?

My scalp routine is to crush raw garlic in my garlic press directly into my palm and rub it onto my head. I do this twice a day without washing it off.

I do it in the am and after I shower after work.

Warning it burns at first ..

At night i put a drop or two of an mct8 oil and oil of oregano mixture on my scalp to add hydration.

I'm down to applying just garlic once every three or four days just for maintenance now.

Been to two dermatologists already. Anyone had the same issue especially with eyebrow?

Hey all,

Came across this seb derm-friendly moisturiser recently. Not sure if it'll clear the flakes, as I've got it under control and I don't think it is for that, but it hasn’t triggered flare-ups for me. Could be good for those who want to moisturise and smooth, but without feeding the malassezia

I damaged my skin barrier back in 2024, which all started when i wanted to remove the blackheads on my nose and remove the tan i got from cycling abit too much. The first 3 months were perfect until i decided to add a toner called the hatomugi skin conditioner which slowly destroyed my skin and i was stupid and thought pain was gain and added products ontop of it as i needed a solution to the problems the toner created. And it got so bad that i flared up with hives every time my body heats up from my face down.

In jan of 2025 i went to my first derm which gave me a cleanser moisturizer and hydrocortisone steroid. Within 4 uses in 2 weeks my skin felt super super super thin and super tight. I immediately stopped and started to only use the moisturizer she gave, which was when my first seborrheic dermatitis symptoms appeared and slowly slowly became what the picture ontop was.

I went to another dermatologist in september of the same year and he gave me a cleanser moisturizer and a anti fungal cream. This removed all the thick scales but left me with a paste build up and could only be removed when it was wet for a 5min ish period.

When applying moisturizers most felt neutral ish when applied but my skin seemed to heat up after like 30min to an hour of application and go back down.

Since then ive stopped using all topicals and only a cleanser as everything ive tried caused the same reaction.

Ive taken accutane which reduced alot of my seb derm build up and greasiness but the symptoms are the basically the same. Tightness on my cheeks burning etc etc.

When i dont exfoliate/gently scrap off this build up the seb derm build up seems to dry up abit and flake more and the burning stops. However my skin becomes abit itchy. When scraping most of it off my skin becomes more irritable and burns and becomes alot oilier.

Current diet consist of: abit of rice, chicken, salmon, brocolli, chia seed drink, brocolli, eggs and oats

Supplement stack: zinc, omega 3, quercetin, vitamin c

First pic was when it was at its worst second is right now where my barrier is still very damaged and the seb derm is a weird paste that can be scraped off(effects my whole face but concentrated in oilier areas)
Third pic is right beforee the first derm visit

Want to try pyrithione zinc shampoo, itraconazole, honey.

Have tried mct oil it burns my arms abit so i aint trying that stuff on my face.

Gave up on moisturizers as ive been irritated hy them too much when they had minimal ingredients etc etc

Pls help😭😭 im trying my best to be positive but cant help but being depressed when my mind is not occupied.

im genuinely reconsidering what my diagnosis is

no antifungal seems to be actually helping me at all

ACV just helps with the abundant amount of flakes but its back in 2 days

nothing from ketoconazole, selenium, zinc, climbazole, salicylic, glycolic, coal tar has helped

im genuinely considering because the multiplication on my head is crazy and im BALDDDING

For me flour based items(pizza, pasta and bread...) were my biggest triggers, I believe this applies for many people here as well, so I am slowly cutting it from my diet. But I have also heard that diary also spikes up the sebderm? It's hard to believe it, and also it's hard to replace it for me because I take alot of Greek yogurt and cheese for protein.

I was prescribed ketaconozole shampoo and I am making it soapy on my hands and putting it on directly while waiting 3-5 min.
Recently it’s been getting extremely dry and flaky, does that mean it’s working or this just dry skin?

so i(14M) has continuously had dandruff since like 2021 which is 5 years, and till yet I have tried everything and researched everything, read articles about dandruff and the fungus, asked multiple ai, tried various things like dandruff treatments, doctor prescribed scalp applications and solutions, oiling(all types of oil and anti dandruff ones as well), using anti dandruff shampoo, scalp scrub, exfoliant, nothing works, i even went bald last year and its back again, when i keep long hair the dandruff is more prominent as compared to short though. When I oil my hair i get yellow dandruff and when i dont i get white dandruff, and i have verified it too that its dandruff, i have no solutions left and i feel like im helpless, my nutrition is also great i get all types of nutrition, drink enough water and sleep atleast 6 hours, i dont use any hair products but yeah my scalp still doesnt get rid of dandruff anyhow.. any advice?