Does Seborrheic Dermatitis Cause Temporary Hair Loss?
I’m 18 years old (male) and I have dandruff really bad. I’m losing more hair than usual and I have no family signs of baldness. I went to the dermatologist and he said I have seborrheic dermatitis. Does seborrheic dermatitis cause temporary hair loss. My hair itches real bad and its real sore at times. If I touch my hair it hurts in certain places. I don’t think my dermatologist really knew what was wrong. What do think is my problem?
Seborrheic dermatitis, when scratched continuously, can cause traction hair loss. Seborrheic dermatitis does not cause hair loss by itself. Whatever pain or feeling you are having on your scalp needs to be evaluated by a good dermatologist. If you don’t get the answers with one doctor, get another opinion.
Apologies in advance for sounding facetious but…I just love it when a medical practitioner says that a condition or illness (such as seborrheic dermatitis) “does not” or “will not” directly cause another condition or symptom (such as temporary or permanent hair loss). It’s simply incorrect. In fact, on this topic, it would even be misrepresenting the truth for a doctor to state that a skin condition “should not” cause hair loss.
Like so many other conditions of the human body, medicine is largely “in the dark” when it comes to understanding how different disorders of the scalp and their impact on a single individual. The science of hair loss is about advanced as the science of mental disorders. Only a neurologist truly appreciates how little we know about such things as depression, and only a small handful of scientists who specialise in hair loss fully appreciate how little we know about the causes and effects of biological infirmities.
The fact is, medical science knows so little about this area that nothing can be certain, and a question like this cannot be answered affirmatively. Unfortunately, like all humans, medical practitioners and advisors have egos (like the rest of us) and no one is going to feel rest assured when the person who is supposed to know keeps responding with “i don’t know”. The accurate answer to this person’s question is “it is possible that seborrheic dermatitis causes hair loss but we simply don’t know. The limited scientific research that has been done on this subject (and all human-biological research is unavoidably constrained by limited sample sizes and other distortionary factors) suggests that such dermatitis may not be responsible for permanent hair loss but, that by no means says that it does not or cannot cause such hair loss.
The sad fact is that it is anyone’s guess and, unfortunately (for the individual)l the best way to go is still trial and error. Whatever works for you. If controlling your seb derm reduces your hair loss then it is most likely reducing your hair loss (unless you’re one of a very rare group of people with munchausen’s syndrome or body dysmorphic disorder and can’t tell the difference, which on the vases if probability, you’re most likely not).