Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThere's no treatment that's guaranteed to stop seborrheic dermatitis forever, but treatments can control its signs and symptoms. Treatment depends on your skin type, the severity of your condition and where it appears on your body.
Seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp
Medicated shampoos are the first step in treating seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp. Choose an over-the-counter shampoo that contains one of the following ingredients:
- Ketoconazole
- Ciclopirox
- Tar
- Pyrithione zinc
- Selenium sulfide
- Salicylic acid
Try using the shampoo daily until your symptoms are controlled; then cut back to two or three times a week. If one type of shampoo works for a time and then seems to lose its effectiveness, try alternating between two types of dandruff shampoos. Leave the shampoo on for three to five minutes — this allows the ingredients time to work.
If you've shampooed faithfully for several weeks and you're still experiencing an itchy, flaky scalp, talk to your doctor or dermatologist. You may need a prescription-strength shampoo or more aggressive treatment with a steroid lotion.
Seborrheic dermatitis on the face and body
Treatments for nonscalp seborrheic dermatitis aim to reduce inflammation and the buildup of scaling on the skin. Over-the-counter (nonprescription) antifungal or anti-itch creams, along with other self-care measures, may help control your symptoms.
If these measures don't help, your doctor may prescribe topical corticosteroids, antifungal medications or a combination of the two to treat stubborn patches. A common course of treatment includes a daily regimen of ketoconazole (Nizoral) and desonide (Desowen) applied to your skin. Prescription oral medication, such as terbinafine (Lamisil), may be an option if the condition affects a large portion of your body.
A class of medications called immunomodulators, such as tacrolimus (Protopic) and pimecrolimus (Elidel), affects the immune system. These medications have anti-inflammatory and mild antifungal properties and are effective in treating seborrheic dermatitis. Due to possible concerns about the effect of these medications on the immune system when used for prolonged periods of time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that Elidel and Protopic be used only after other treatments have failed, or if someone can't tolerate other treatments. Additionally, the FDA advises against long-term use of these medications.
- Weston WL, et al. Overview of dermatitis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Seborrheic dermatitis. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec10/ch114/ch114h.html. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Plewig G, et al. Seborrheic dermatitis. In: Wolff K, et al. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2951940. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Naldi L, et al. Seborrheic dermatitis. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:387.
- Berger TG. Dermatologic disorders. In: McPhee SJ, et al. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2009. 48th ed. Los Altos, Calif.: Lange Medical Publications; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=747. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- McCall CO, et al. Eczema, psoriasis, cutaneous infections, acne, and other common skin disorders. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2864389. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Pimecrolimus cream. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/InfoSheets/patient/ElidelPIS.pdf. Accessed April 23, 2009.
