Dandruff

Dandruff is a skin condition that mainly affects the scalp. Symptoms include flaking and sometimes mild itchiness. It can result in social or self-esteem problems. A more severe form of the condition, which includes inflammation of the skin, is known as seborrhoeic dermatitis. The cause is unclear but believed to involve a number of genetic and environmental factors. The condition may worsen in the winter. It is not due to poor hygiene. The underlying mechanism involves the excessive growth of skin cells. Diagnosis is based on symptoms. There is no known cure. The typical treatment is with antifungal cream such as ketoconazole. Dandruff affects about half of adults. Onset is usually at puberty. Males are more often affected than females. Rates decrease after the age of 50. The signs and symptoms of dandruff are an itchy scalp and flakiness. Red and greasy patches of skin and a tingly feeling on the skin are also symptoms. The cause is unclear but believed to involve a number of genetic and environmental factors. The condition may worsen in the winter. It is not due to poor hygiene. As the skin layers continually replace themselves, cells are pushed outward where they die and flake off. For most individuals, these flakes of skin are too small to be visible. However, certain conditions cause cell turnover to be unusually rapid, especially in the scalp. It is hypothesized that for people with dandruff, skin cells may mature and be shed in 2–7 days, as opposed to around a month in people without dandruff. The result is that dead skin cells are shed in large, oily clumps, which appear as white or grayish flakes on the scalp, skin and clothes. According to one study, dandruff has been shown to be possibly the result of three factors: According to a 2016 study, bacteria (mainly Propionibacterium and Staphylococcus) are more important to dandruff formation than fungi. Bacterial presence was in turn influenced by water and sebum amount.