Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Usually a harmless yeast on the scalp — treatable but with a tendency to return.
Also known as: dandruff · seborrhoeic dermatitis of the scalp
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Dandruff is very common, harmless and primarily a cosmetic nuisance. It appears when the top layer of the scalp sheds faster than usual. Often a mild seborrhoeic dermatitis is behind it, involving a normally harmless scalp yeast; a dry scalp can also cause fine flakes. Dandruff is not a sign of poor hygiene. It shows as white or yellowish flakes, sometimes with itch. It is usually well controlled with the right shampoo, but tends to keep coming back. With strong redness, weeping or thick scaly patches, it’s worth distinguishing from psoriasis or eczema at the dermatologist.
Anti-dandruff shampoo works on chest and back too: lather, leave on, rinse off. The same yeast, the same active substances.
The same picture often sits on the sides of the nose, the eyebrows, in the ears, in the middle of the chest and along the spine. Anyone who knows the distribution recognises it there again.
A medicated shampoo used regularly usually controls it well.
Don’t wash too hot, don’t scratch the scalp.
Stress and cold, dry air can worsen it.
With strong redness, weeping, thick patches or if shampoos don’t help.
Dandruff falls out on combing, nits stay glued to the hair close to the scalp. That is the simplest difference, and it decides the treatment.
The active ingredients in the shampoos (ketoconazole, zinc pyrithione, selenium disulfide) target a yeast that lives on every scalp — they lower its numbers, they do not remove it. That is why the flakes return when the shampoo is dropped; this is not failure, it is the nature of the thing. It takes two to four weeks twice weekly, then once a week to hold. Tea tree oil is used traditionally and has been examined in smaller studies.
About one in two people is affected at least at times; most often between twenty and thirty. A medicated shampoo needs two to four weeks used twice a week — and must be left on three to five minutes, or the active ingredient does not reach the scalp. Afterwards once a week is usually enough to hold it. After stopping, the flakes return within two to four weeks.
Zinc pyrithione, selenium disulfide or ketoconazole, two to three times a week, left on three to five minutes. Washing more often alone is not enough.
White/yellowish flakes, sometimes itch — harmless.
A mild seborrhoeic dermatitis with a harmless yeast is often involved.
Dandruff says nothing about cleanliness.
Marked redness, weeping or thick plaques → distinguish psoriasis/eczema (dermatologist).
Skin and lining renew themselves quickly and need zinc for it. With places that heal badly, cracked corners of the mouth and frequent skin infections a lack is a serious possibility.
Without vitamin C no stable collagen forms — the wound closes but holds less well. With a very one-sided diet, smoking and alcohol the intake is often tighter than assumed.
Steers the horn-forming of the skin. Too little makes it rough and dry, too much over longer periods harms liver and bone — and in pregnancy a strict upper limit applies.
Every healing needs building material. Anyone eating little during an illness loses exactly that — a sufficient amount spread across the day belongs to the treatment.
Zinc pyrithione in shampoo, left on 2–3 minutes, twice a week — that is the studied route. Zinc tablets against dandruff are not.
Often sold against dandruff and not studied for it. More important: from 5 mg a day biotin distorts thyroid and cardiac lab values — leave it out 2–3 days before a blood draw.
Dandruff before puberty is rare — it begins when the sebaceous glands start working under androgens, and eases again later in life. The course across a lifetime follows this hormone.
Dandruff mostly arises together with Malassezia yeasts. Zinc works here mainly in the shampoo, not through the plate — a deficiency is still worth measuring.
Shampoos with tea tree oil are studied; they act on the same yeast as the standard products.
Traditionally used as a rinse; on inflamed scalp it irritates further.
Burdock root oil on the scalp is one of the oldest applications there is. What helps is in good part the oil itself and the massage — both loosen scales and calm the skin.
Traditionally used as a hair rinse. Against the yeast that plays a part in dandruff no effect is shown — that is what the pharmacy products are for.
Shampoos with tea tree oil are studied; they act on the same yeast as the standard products.