Taking care of hair health and quality is not something as easy as washing it regularly. One of the problems that people tend to have yet has nothing to know much about it is dandruff or flaking with white powdery substances falling off your head or hair. It is something unavoidable but can be controlled. However, do you know if it is severe dandruff or something else?
6 Severe Dandruff Things You Should Consider Before Curing It
About Dandruff
Most people have dandruff and see it as something normal. In medical condition, it is just a normal situation in which your skin try to shed its dead skin. At some points, dandruff or a flaky head and hair condition will appear more subtle with a white powdery substance falling on your shoulders. Despite its harmless and normal condition, it can affect self-esteem.
All thanks to the fact that the dandruff condition is also seen or related to dirty hair and head condition. You might see people with white flakes on their shoulder as a person who does not wash their hair regularly. But, the condition is more subtle since it is part of your body’s nature. You cannot avoid it but surely can manage the condition.
At its worst, the condition can appear with very unadorned itchy, and constant shedding of white substances. The white substance is your dry skin, which rubs off easily. Since it is part of the normal body situation, flaking can also happen on a different part of your body such as ears, nose, or chest. But what specifies severe dandruff?
The severe condition can appear with a severe rash on the entire scalp. The condition is normally caused by a skin fungus called Malassezia that irritates the sebaceous gland on your scalp. The immune will respond and create the scaly rash. That is what makes the white powdery skin. When it is severe, the volume of the shedding will be too much to handle.
Some fast and myth
In common sense, people relate the dandruff condition with a dry scalp. But the fact is the opposite. The oily scalp triggers the yeast living on the scalp to produce too much substance, which later irritates the skin and creates flakes. At worst myth, people will see that people with dandruff will have worsened hair conditions such as hair fall or baldness.
But the truth said otherwise. Just because one has severe dandruff, it won’t lead to serious health problems. Dirty and does not wash hair is also not the real reason for the flaky hair. Some other situations or causes can create the same reaction. Those situations include stress, medical condition, or weather condition such as cold and dry.
The Signs You Need To Highlight
You can easily identify the condition by looking at the shedding white substance, itchy scalp, and some scaly or crusty scalp. In many cases, you can also see more white flakes on other parts of the hairy body features such as shoulders, mustache, beard, or eyebrows. The symptom can get more severe depending on the environment temperature or stress.
When should you meet or see a doctor? Consider the fact that dandruff is not and will not lead to a severe health condition. So, you don’t need doctor care. You can check with a primary care doctor or help from a dermatologist. A hair specialist in a saloon might also work, as long as you don’t find any severe skin condition behind your severe dandruff condition.
How If It Is Not A Case Of Severe Dandruff?
Is it possible that dandruff is a sign of a different health condition? Yes, it can. How if the flaking, itching, and scaling skin is not dandruff? Yes, there are some cases in that other health condition has or provide a similar sign of dandruff. In most cases of different conditions, the possible diagnoses lead to skin problems with a similar appearance.
Scalp problems with flaking skin can be Psoriasis, a disease with itchy, scaly, and red patches on your skin. It can appear in every part of your body, including the scalp. A similar condition is Rosacea, where the itchy, red, and irritation affecting the face appear on your scalp. And the most common one is rash or eczema on your scallop.
If you are worried about possible different skin conditions, consider checking the sign and see the problem further. Try to take care of and do treatment for dandruff. But if the itchy, red, crusting, pain, or pus appeared, call the doctor. It might indicate a different kind of skin problem. Again, you cannot cure severe dandruff. But at least you can still control the condition.
Managing The Flaking
As said before that dandruff is uncurable and happens to everyone. The best thing you can do is to control it or manage the condition as much as possible. In many cases, the severity of the condition will demand different management. It is especially true if the common anti-dandruff shampoo does not make any changes.
In this case, the dermatologist’s answers are to use steroid solution, lotion, or cream to rub onto the affected areas. It is mostly done only once or twice daily. Some other prescriptions will include oil-based medicine and leave it on the scalp overnight. The other medicine is an antifungal that you can consume or use topically on the skin and scalp.
Treating The Hair Condition
The best thing to treat the condition is to wash your hair every day or every other day. It is the bare minimum while also using anti-dandruff shampoo. Pick carefully the product to treat your severe dandruff, such as using shampoo with selenium sulfide, salicylic acid, ketoconazole, Tar, sulfur, or zinc pyrithione. Try different shampoos to check which one is working or which makes the condition worsened.
Dandruff or flaking is something people will or naturally has. It is not a condition that you should worry about. In many cases, it is always better to see whether it is dandruff. Check the sign, treat, and manage it. If nothing work, check for the different case that might indicate skin condition.
