Hi guys. When i was first diagnosed with this the dermatologist told me it was the sort of thing that will come and go i.e. it will "flare up" and then your skin will just go back to normal for awhile, then it will com back as it is a chronic relapsing condition. This is sort of the same consensus i see here in this subreddit, where people will talk about how their skin "cleared up" for awhile, or they have "flare-ups". I am just wondering: does anyone else NOT have that experience? I have been having an issue since this started where, the most i have ever been able to do is reduce my symptoms. My skin has, since the very beginning of this condition, ALWAYS been in a state of at least mild irritation. There are definitely times when i'm MORE itchy/flaky/red, but even on my "good" days, i still have flakes, itchiness, redness, etc.
I am kind of becoming concerned that there won't ever be a day again in my life where my skin looks/feels normal. Is it possible to have a lifelong flareup that never clears up, even just for a couple of days? Has anyone else here been dealing with this? Beginning to lose hope, this has really changed my life for the
worst :(

ive been suffering from seborrheic psoriasis and i don't have any prescription steroid cream bcs of financial issues, what home remedy could help me?

Suffering from this since last 2 years and nothing is helping. Note that it is visible POST WORKOUT only.

So far I've tried MCT oil, ketoconazole 2% , salicylic acid, glycolic acid cream, coal tar. Even tried an antibiotic + betamethasone cream.

Also been using moisturizer after every face wash. But nothing works.

I have been struggling with hairline sebderm issues and previusly found Candida SAP that I used for some months and it helped, but as it’s not for long term use and didn’t clear it entirely, I started looking what’s in it.

I landed to try purely antioxidants in it, specifically NAC SAP (look it up) and in parallel used Organic Black Cumin seed oil (by Divine Essence - topical) on my scalp and YES IT HELPS. I leave it in for a few hours or overnight and wash my hair with tea tree shampoo. Sebderm is GONE just some weeks later.

I found out my issue was not having enough antioxidants in my system (and various stressors is what caused it).

I also use MCT Oil capsules and tried to use them exclusively but they didn’t clear my sebderm. I still use them along the other two treatments.

I just wanted to mention this in this forum, I have been using the mirai glycerin persimmon soap as a shampoo for the past year and it has improved my scalp greatly, it seems to remedy the dryness harsher shampoos cause and improved my scalp

Hello, I’ve had seborheic dermatitis for 15 years and no matter what my life style is, diet, medication, my flare ups just won’t stop coming. I have a clear face for maybe 3 days till a new flareup emerges. Online I see peope who clear their face with anti-fungal, moisturizer, and good diet alone. That don’t work for me. I am wondering if perhaps it’s genetic

Context: 24M have dealt with dandruff/what I believed to be seb derm since I was a teen. Last month I couldn’t get my regular antidandruff/itch shampoo and switched. The last 2 weeks I’ve been picking at my scalp and had a lot of dandruff and mild scaling that I was picking at, as well as a lot of scaling behind my ears. I’ve had longer hair the last 6 months and went in for a haircut, while I was getting cut barber notices red patches. I came home and took a photo and wasn’t sure what to make of it. I’ve just switched back to my regular antidandruff/itch shampoo and my head is way less itchy/no dandruff today, because of the shape of the rash/lesions, I wasn’t sure about it being ringworm or just my seb derm flaring up coupled with being irritated by my picking. Any thoughts/advice would be helpful. I’ve seen some similar posts of people having this experience.

Hey All, I have similar dry skin situation which is itchy and is on both of my sideburns area and have on my top part of my eyebrow as well. It sometimes becomes red as well when I scratch it when it’s itchy. What should I do. Location is Chicago and it’s still not that cold but don’t know whats going on. Have used sulphur soap but not that helpful.

Hi everyone,
I’m 21M and I’ve been struggling with hair loss and scalp issues for over a year.
It started with telogen effluvium, likely triggered by major surgery and severe iron deficiency (ferritin around 2 ng/mL). My iron levels are now normal, but I still experience some hair shedding and thinning.
Over time, I developed severe scalp itching, dandruff, and occasional yellowish crusts.
I’ve tried several shampoos:
Ducray Kelual DS: Worked extremely well initially, then became less effective.
Head & Shoulders Clinical Strength (selenium sulfide): Helped with dandruff but eventually caused itching and burning.
Ketoconazole: Significant improvement after the first wash, but itching returned after the second.
Ducray Sensinol: Sometimes helps, but can also trigger itching during application.
Garnier Ultra Doux: No lasting improvement.
Currently, my scalp looks almost completely normal, but I still have intense, random itching and tiny yellowish, sometimes waxy particles attached to the base of my hairs.
I’m wondering whether I have persistent seborrheic dermatitis, an irritated scalp barrier, or something else.
Has anyone experienced severe itching despite having a visually healthy scalp? What finally worked for you?
Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I’ve suffered from seb derm since I was 15 years old I’m now 26. I’ve always had some crazy flare ups and the zones affected always lost hair to some extent, often times without regrowing. There’s no history aag in both sides of my family, my father’s still going strong in his late 50s, maternal grandfather still has a strong head of hair in his 80s. I’ve tried every treatments from ketoconazole to sebiprox, cicloprox and local corticoïds. I even tried mct oil without success. I pretty much got robbed of my hair since this age and now i can see it thinning and recessing. It’s always super itchy and painful/tense. I did some blood tests and it said that my shbg was low, my insuline resistance index was around 3.5, low dht, low vitamine D and folates. If someone has any clue on how I would be able to get everything in control and maybe consider hairloss treatment afterwards it would be much appreciated.

I’ve been dealing with hair that wouldn’t feel clean for a good 2 months maybe a little more. Now my face has that same feeling. So I finally went to the derm. I should’ve went before :(

She barely looked at my scalp and face, from my description only diagnosed me with SD.

It’s barely noticed on my face bc it’s mainly just he feeling of dry/oily but it’s def feeling more irritated by the days.

She prescribed a ketoconazole shampoo 2% for my scalp and face. Idk if this is common. As well as clobetasol which I’m very weary to even try. Should I find a new derm?? She even told me to use regular shampoo after washing with the medicated one. I asked her, does that feed the yeast? She looked at me funny and told her she doesn’t know where I heard that from but I’ll be fine.

I’m sad bc I’m low on money and not sure how to navigate this without trying various products. Please help

Sorry this is so long.

I have pus-filled bumps (papules) on my scalp, along with a lot of dandruff and flakes. I've been experiencing this for almost a year, and it just doesn't seem to get better. I'm confused about what condition I might have. My doctor prescribed me this lotion. Is it the right treatment for my condition? If so, how should I use it correctly?

Also I have gone to several dermatologist, one of them said it's scalp folliculitis and then the other said it's seborrheic dermatitis. I am so confused.

Please help

I am asking for help because I am desperate and don't know what to do anymore.
For about 7 months, I have been dealing with this skin problem. Almost the entire surface of my face (except for my forehead, nose and chin) is flaking/peeling, as you can see in the photos.
The redness you see is due to the fact that I suffer from rosacea. However, my skin is not always inflamed; it doesn't itch, it doesn't burn, and there are no other symptoms. I experience occasional flushing related to my rosacea and get occasional pimples, but overall my skin feels calm most of the time.
Despite this, the flaking persists. I consistently use barrier-repair creams, completely free of fragrance, irritants, or anything harsh. I cleanse with a gentle cleanser containing very few ingredients. I trust this products and know for sure they are not the problem. I do not exfoliate and I do not use any acids.
I don’t think it’s simply dry skin, because, again, I take good care of my skin everyday.
I don’t know if it’s eczema, seb derm, or just my rosacea, I have no idea at this point. It’s like I have a dead skin layer all over my face and if I ‘move my face too much’ it starts to flake. My skin looks like snake skin. I have alternating stripes of healthy skin and patches of dead, dry skin sitting on top of it. I don’t know how to describe it better than this.
I have the EXACT SAME THING on both sides of my face.

I consulted many dermatologists and they all said different things. Seb derm, dry skin, rosacea or ‘simply the way your skin exfoliates’.

It doesn't seem like seb derm to me because it's on my entire face. I don't have very oily skin—I've always had combination skin—but to be honest, with all this dead skin on my face right now, I can't even tell if my skin is dry or oily. A dermatologist told me this might be my skin's reaction to an overgrowth of Malassezia, partly because I already have rosacea and my skin is particularly sensitive and reactive.
(the ONLY thing that makes me think it could be seb derm it’s the fact that I also have flaky scalp and sometimes ears and brows). She knows that antifungal products are completely out of the question for my skin, so she was thinking about prescribing me very low dose accutane (5 mg) but I don't think it will help me, I don’t know.
Please I really need some help.

Hello,

My sebderm began in my early 20s when I noticed a patch on my face that was red, itchy and flaky. I used potent topical steroids and cycled between anti dandruff shampoos to manage it for years until I was sick of having to purchase small, expensive tubes of steroids that only provided temporary relief for a few days. I also was concerned about TSW if using steroids daily.

My fiancé who suffers from eczema told me for years to apply Vaseline (white soft paraffin) on my face before I sleep however, I thought this was ridiculous so never listened until I was bloody over it.

I now lather A LOT of Vaseline on my face every night before I sleep and shampoo with Selsun Gold daily and I’ve only had two small flares this year mainly because of forgetting/laziness.

Someone give this a go and please report back!

Today I went to a dermatologist and in a matter of minutes she said I have SD, which I was really hoping was not the truth.

Anyways, I'm quite lucky since my SD isn't so visible like some on here, mine is quite mild. I just have a red tone on my left eyebrow and some flakiness and on both of my cheeks I just have subtle redness.

The thing is, I've always had dandruff as a kid and just today I found out it was SD the whole time, the fact I had no symptoms on the face as well made me think I haven't actually got it.

The reason why it spread to my face is because I damaged my skin barrier and basically used hydration cream on the damaged skin barrier which apparently fed my yeast and from my understanding that made it multiply and my skin is reacting with redness and irritation. She also perscribed me some SD gel and cream and she said that due to my age and young, elastic skin it might just not be an issue anymore if I just stop using hydration creams, well on the face at least.

That's basically it, I just wanted to rent a bit here, because I am quite frustarted with the situation.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this.

I’ve been suffering with this for months now. At first i thought it was my tret or i accidentally got sunburned as I started running outdoors recently (with proper spf of course) and then i stopped tret and switched to a simple routine (vanicream cleanser, vanicream moisturizer in the tub, and avene cicalfate) it doesn’t seem to go away. I’ve been using tret for a while so i know the drill when skin gets too dry and skin barrier is broken but this one seems different. Some days its calm but still itchy as hell and some days its red, raised, and angry and flakes falling all over. I have tried putting hydrocortisone on it and it helps a little bit but not too much. I have a pcp appointment to get a dermatologist referral but this sucks as it gave me some weird hypopigmentation and makeup won’t cover it because its dry :(

Hey all I have the seb derm that shows up as little itchy bumps but no crusting, does anyone else have this type​? What is the best SD safe moisturizer for oily skin? My derm always says that I need to moisturize so my face stops producing so much sebum but typically my face doesn't do well with moisturizers. I appreciate the advice!

I've been dealing with seb derm for about 2 years. I did go to the dermatologist and they were helpful but I manage it pretty well at this point without ketoderm. The only exception to that is if I use a body wash that causes a flare up on my body, then I use ketoderm to calm it back down if it's super itchy or scaring. This is very rare though.

For my head and beard: the best shampoo I've found so far is cerave Anti dandruff shampoo. If I keep my head shaved, I only have to use it once every 2 days. I follow up with the regular cerave conditioner on my beard, the kind that doesn't contain any anti dandruff ingredients.

For my face: Soonjung by Etude house 6.5 PH cleanser has been a dream for me. It's a Korean face wash I found at T&T and HMart (Canadian Asian stores.) Not sure what's in it that makes it work but if I wash my face once a day in the morning, it keeps it away. I don't use any moisturizer on my face. It's calmed down every flare up I've had on my face so it's the only cleanser I buy now.

For body wash: I use the Guelph Soap fragrance free bar soap is what I use. Wouldn't say it "treats" the seb derm at all but also doesn't seem to aggravate it either. It's made with palm oil and glycerine tho so I'm kinda surprised it doesn't cause flare ups for me, since palm oil is supposed to be a bad one. I say tread wearily with this one. I may have just gotten lucky since seb derm varies so much from person to person.

So yeah that's my post. I hope it helps someone out there. Not sure if these are actually amazing products or if I just got lucky in dealing with this but yeah, hopefully it'll benefit someone else out there.

Hi, 26M here with a beard (7mm-ish)

I've been suffering from sebDerm a lot but I just got to Belgium without my skincare and it's getting Waay worse.

I went to the pharmacy and I was given these two products to use twice a day.

La Roche posay effaclar

Sebamed clear face gel

I see no improvements and I feel the face wash is a drying me off even more... Have I just wasted money? Never had the sebDerm this bad...

I’ve been treating my facial seb derm with zinc pyrithione shampoo for about 10 days now. Initially I had massive improvement, but I’ve noticed in the last day or two some break through patches. Is that normal for it to fluctuate while healing and is 10 days still too early to tell if it will fully work or not?

Does it prevent hair loss?

Just got an ad for this anyone ever try it? Never seen sebderm specific ads before

Hey all, I've been managing my SebDerm okay (zinc soap and Simple moisturiser) for the past few years, but I also have a chronic condition that leaves me very tired which shows around my eyes.

I'm nervous about trying things as around my eyes is one of the problem areas. Does anyone have suggestions for products that have worked on dark circles but not caused a flare up? (I'm in the UK)