Dandruff can cause plenty of embarrassment and irritation for your scalp and head, but sometimes people can develop similar symptoms in other areas. If you feel like you're experiencing dandruff on your face, there's a good chance that you have another condition entirely. Here's what you need to know about this problem.
Disorder
The name of the condition that you might have is called seborrheic dermatitis. This condition isn't contagious, and the exact cause of it isn't fully understood. However, many people experience it over time, and it tends to run in families, so there may be a genetic factor at work.
Symptoms
People with seborrheic dermatitis tend to have very specific symptoms. One of the most common ones is developing flaky skin patches around your nose, lips, ears, and eyebrows. It often looks very similar to dandruff and can be itchy or sensitive.
Another common symptom is redness and irritation. Some people may develop scab-like skin patches that are essentially overgrown skin.
Why it Happens
Although the cause isn't entirely known, the reason why you're having symptoms is. With seborrheic dermatitis, skin cells develop too quickly. While this may not seem like a big problem, the way skin works is a careful balance between old skin cells being shed and new skin cells being made. If skin cells are shed too slowly, you can develop a condition called psoriasis. However, with seborrheic dermatitis, the problem is that new cells are made quickly, before the old ones are ready to let go. As a result, you can develop little mounds of skin that are rough and irritated and sometimes even painful. Think of it as like a skin scab on top of healthy skin that wants to be on the surface.
Treatment
For seborrheic dermatitis treatment, you should visit a dermatologist. They'll be able to assess your skin easily to determine if you have this condition or something else.
From there, treatment typically involves regular exfoliation and steroid topical products. These products can help to reduce itchiness and swelling of the skin, and they can help to alter the way skin cells develop, giving you a more normal appearance and fewer flakes and skin mounds.
Seborrheic dermatitis isn't a serious danger to your health, but it can be extremely irritating and annoying to deal with. If you're tired of having your face look torn up or flaky all the time, talk to a dematologist to start getting treated.
