When it comes to seborrheic dermatitis treatments, there are two main varieties: the natural and the not.  Seborrheic dermatitis is usually contracted in the form of dandruff which is a flaky excess of dry skin that comes from the scalp.  Although it comes in other forms as well, the vast majority of sufferers will only experience the seborrheic dermatitis on their scalps.  As a result, most of the treatments are also hair related.  There are a number of shampoos on the market that are intended for treatment for seborrheic dermatitis as well as many natural methods, which will be discussed further below.  Regardless though, sufferers of this particular ailment are fortunate that there are a number of treatments to assist them.

Seborrheic dermatitis remains a disease with undetermined causes but most doctors can point to an intolerance of a yeast, mallesizia, as the main cause.  This yeast produces a fungus that causes the skin cells in the scalp to go into overproduction of new skin cells.  As the new skin cells continue to be rapidly duplicated, the dead cells accumulate in the form of the dandruff flakes.

The most common anti-dandruff shampoos tend to include one of the following chemicals pyrithione zinc (Head and Shoulders), selenium sulfide (Selsun Blue), or salicylic acid (Neutrogena T/Sal).  Most of these active chemicals work equally effectively on dandruff.  The only one to be careful of is the salicylic acid type of dandruff shampoo as these tend to break down the flakes, which helps to remove them from your scalp, but they do not really treat the root cause of the problem.  While using an anti-dandruff shampoo as treatment for seborrheic dermatitis, one should also be careful not to use it as their regular shampoo.  Although it is acceptable to use it every day at first, while one is suffering the worst part of their dandruff, one should reduce their use to 2 to 3 times a week after the first couple of weeks.  Otherwise, the effectiveness of the shampoo will be significantly reduced as the body grows a tolerance to it.  Generally, one should use a regular shampoo first and then apply the anti-dandruff shampoo.  Allow the anti-dandruff shampoo to sit in the hair for a few minutes to ensure that it is getting to the areas it needs to treat in the scalp and then rinse.

A more popular natural treatment of seborrheic dermatitis is lime juice.  Lime juice can be applied to the scalp after shampoo and allowed to sit in the hair for a few minutes and then rinse thoroughly.  The nice thing about lime juice is that it is also known to increase the health of one’s hair.  Apple cider vinegar mixed with hydrogen peroxide and water is also known to be effective.

As far as physical ailments go, dandruff is a good one in that there are so many seborrheic dermatitis treatments to choose from to help.