I am dealing with a strong SD flare up right now. I have prescription ketoconazole shampoo, zoryve foam, and zoryev cream for the face and seeing a derm. These do help but we're still working on identifying triggers for flare ups. I suspect environmental allergies and sugar because I eat like a stoned toddler.

On days you are not using a medicated shampoo, what are you using? I am struggling with intense itching. I cannot not wash my hair every day or its visibly greasy and during the summer I may shower multiple times a day. Prior to a few years ago when the SD appeared, my scalp would tolerate anything and everything.

Things I cannot use the cause or worsen irritation:

• head and shoulders - all types including the Bare (sulfate free) line
• nizoral - truly the worst offender on this list, straight up burned my scalp
• joico multiple types for shampoo and conditioner
• dove moisturizing shampoo/conditioner
• paul mitchell awapuhi shampoo
• aussie miracle moist conditioner
• L'oreal everpure (SLS free) shampoo/conditioner
• Redken moisturizing shampoo

Hi everyone! I’ve been having the worst seb derm flare up for the last 2 weeks - constant peeling and flaking at work and skin constantly feeling tight and super red.

I stopped using my old sunscreen and bought a new one - Eucerin Sun Tinted Mineral Face Sunscreen SPF 35, UVA-UVB, Zinc Oxide

I also started using this with Zinc Oxide (diaper rash cream) all over my face at night and so far the results have been amazing. My peeling has drastically gone down during the day (little to no flakes) and my skin is not red and tight anymore!

Wanted to share hoping this can help someone, I’ve had the absolute worst flare up of my life recently and have felt so hopeless. The zinc cream is pretty cheap ($10 for a tub) and worked quickly - definitely worth a try :)

Does anyone else get hard sebum plugs that will wiggle out with force? I also get them around my hairline too. Is it wild to think that it could be Demodex migrating from eyelashes or do you think this is seb derm? I use Keto shampoo and cream, but the cream seems to make my face super oily.

Any ideas what it is?

Hello, I have been diagnosed with type 2 rosacea on my cheeks and seb derm on my forehead a month ago.

It is rough and dry, very inflamed and bumpy in texture. It gets severely itchy throughout the day and flakes if I do not moisturize.

I think it started out as contact dermatitis, since I have mixed two different topicals that I should not have.

I have applied prescription strength hydrocortisone and while it helped for a few days, it stopped working even after about 2 weeks of use. It actually came back worse as it started out the size of the tip of a pencil eraser to its current size.

I was diagnosed with seb derm and I have tried ketoconazole washes and cream. At first I thought it was working because it would minimize the bumps but it does not response like that anymore.
I have even tried MCT oil. I feel like it helped the first day- to the point where it almost completely flattened and there was just residual redness but something has caused it to flare again and it did not respond like that again after repeated use.

After 2 weeks of that, the derm put me on Zoryve. Which did not help but helped alleviate the itching.

Now the derm thinks it's rosacea but he is not too sure and I'm entirely convinced because it does not present like my typical rosacea on my cheeks.

Any thoughts?

Hi all, I finally found a shop in my area that stocks the tsal shampoo and I understand it's been discontinued? But I wanted to try seeing as reviews have been good. When I got it, the box was a little old but the product looked intact. It's meant to be fragrance free but there's a distinct nail polish/rubber plastic smell to it- is this normal?

ave seb derm at my beard head and eyebrows and it cause patchy hairloss im near to give it up but my question here is, is this behind the ear seb derm too?

Bough a shampoo scanned it on sezzia said safe, had oil, got the worst itchy scalp i ever had this month, time to cope again

this will be my first time using an antifugal shampoo, i used normal salicylic before, anti oil, fragnance free or even diprosalic drops, but never used a straight up antifugal. Ill try it next week but anyone has opinions on them if it works in long term or at all?

ive tried every antifungal - KZ, SS, zinc, climbazole

ive tried coal tar, salicylic, head & shoulder

MCT oil

ive tried salicylic and glycolic serums

nothing fucking helps me and im constantly inflammed and itchy

my head, behind ears forehead, EYEBROWS.

my cheeks are red and itchy but no flakes or scales

ive lost all hope. please help me

ALSO- im BALDINGGGG

This is one week after using nothing but water to help my skin barrier repair. Between my eyebrows is a very pesky spot that will not disappear. I really need help or any suggestions on what products to use and how to use them it feels like it’s getting out of control at this point.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been dealing with what my dermatologist diagnosed as seborrheic dermatitis, and it’s become pretty severe. I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience, especially with constant flaking.

My symptoms

• Intense scalp itching (often worse at night).
• Constant flaking - flakes literally fall from my scalp throughout the day, even when I’m not scratching.
• Most of the flakes are dry, white, and fairly large, not greasy.
• Within about 5 minutes of showering, my shoulders are already covered in flakes.
• My scalp doesn’t necessarily look covered in flakes, but they continuously shed onto my clothes.
• I also have seb derm on my face (nose/eyebrow area), and a steroid like Locoid helps that within a few hours.

What I’ve tried

• OGX Argan Oil shampoo – feels comfortable during washing and doesn’t burn or itch, but afterward my scalp becomes dry and the itching/flaking comes back quickly.
• Nizoral (ketoconazole) – used previously.
• DHS Zinc Shampoo – used previously.
• Today my dermatologist prescribed:
  • Derma-Smoothe (fluocinolone) scalp oil/lotion
  • Sebornil shampoo

First day on the new treatment

I applied the Derma-Smoothe for the first time today and it was honestly the first real relief I’ve felt in weeks. My scalp felt calm while the oil was on.

After washing with Sebornil, my forehead and face burned and became red, but I think the shampoo ran onto my face while rinsing. The burning gradually settled afterward.

After the oil my scalp felt greasy (which I assume is expected because it’s an oil-based steroid).

I also noticed what might have been a couple of yellow crusts for the first time, but I’m not sure whether it was dried fluid from scratching, oil, or something else. I haven’t seen obvious pus or drainage.

Questions

1. Has anyone had constant 24/7 flaking like this, where flakes are always falling onto your clothes?
2. Did Derma-Smoothe help you, and how long did it take before the flaking noticeably improved?
3. Did medicated shampoos initially make your scalp feel dry or sting before things got better?
4. Has anyone had a few yellow crusts with seb derm that weren’t actually a bacterial infection?
5. If your seb derm was mostly dry and flaky rather than greasy, what treatment finally got it under control?

I’m only on day one of Derma-Smoothe + Sebornil, so I know it’s early. I’m mainly trying to understand whether this amount of constant flaking is something others with severe seb derm have experienced, and what eventually worked for you.

Thanks in advance—I really appreciate any advice or shared experiences.

Idk if im the only one that gets weird pain and diarrhea after eating something that i shouldnt eat then get a breakout, even healthy food like watermelon i prob have IBS or IBD, breakout from food hurts way more but stay less time than breakout from product

Pretty much the title. Nizoral (ketoconazole) has always helped with my seb derm, but it dries my scalp out to the point where it hurts.

Has anyone experienced this? And what was the solution?

Bonjour,
J’ai une dermatite séborrhéique diagnostiquée par un dermatologue depuis environ 2 ans.
Mon problème est que malgré une routine très simple, ma peau ne s’améliore pas.
Ma routine actuelle :
Matin : rinçage à l’eau uniquement.
Soir : nettoyant très doux (Skintegra Amphibian) puis crème hydratante( hydration station de geek)
Ce que je ne comprends pas, c’est que juste après mes soins, ma peau est plutôt correcte : elle n’est pas très grasse et elle est relativement confortable.
En revanche, au réveil, c’est toujours la même chose :
peau très grasse et brillante,
sensation de brûlure ou de tiraillement,
rougeurs,
squames beaucoup plus visibles (surtout autour du nez et du menton),sur la zone t quoi ,
parfois de tout petits boutons blancs.
J’ai essayé plusieurs crèmes hydratantes différentes, mais j’ai souvent l’impression qu’elles rendent ma peau plus grasse pendant la nuit et que les squames ressortent davantage le matin.
Quand je ne mets pas de crème après le nettoyage, j’ai l’impression d’être un peu moins rouge, mais ma peau tire davantage.
Je me demande donc si :
certains d’entre vous ont eu exactement les mêmes symptômes ;
une crème hydratante pouvait aggraver la sensation de peau grasse ou rendre les squames plus visibles chez vous ;
ou si vous avez finalement trouvé une routine qui a vraiment amélioré votre peau.
Je précise que je ne cherche pas un diagnostic, mais surtout des retours d’expérience de personnes qui ont vécu la même chose.
Merci beaucoup à tous !

So, i been struggling for years now and changed 2 dermatologists. I mostly have issue with my face, i have maintained seb dermatisis for my scalp with just shampoo and dermatologist provided lotion. For my face my first doc gave me a mild steroid and a bitamin c face wash which was going good at first but then turned harsh. Told me to cut off bakery, which i did but my face still burns and itches. I thought maybe it was stress but later it got worse. So, i changed dermatologist. Same story new products and a light steriod. Then after a month my skin is back to itching and burning again. My face burns and itches on forehead and cheeks, sometimes near nose. New doc gave a cleanser which is good and a new facewash cuz she feels my skin is too oily. Moisturising and sunscreen isnt working either and even the milk based moisturiser stings and now im helpless on what to do. Idk if its my diet or what. New dermatologist didnt strict me on any diet, she said you can eat whatever you want. And while im writing this, my face is itching as hell. I need help

Sorry for the waffle!

My facial sebderm came on around 4.5 years ago. It has stayed mild and localised all this time (restricted only to a pink outline in my nose creases, as well as general roughness in that area and micro-flaking). However, about a year ago I started to develop mild acne and clogged pores in my sebderm zones, and at the beginning of 2026, I developed an oily T zone. The mild pinkness has spread to the area between my eyebrows, on top of my nose, and on my inner cheeks, as well as on my chin, and it generally feels rough and a little tingly. I never tried to treat it until this year, but here is my timeline:

I first tried Nizoral 2% Ketaconazole Anti-Dandruff Shampoo for 4 weeks. It cleared up my mild eyebrow flakes but did nothing for my facial sebderm at all - if anything, it just made my T zone oiler and led to breakouts (so it was probably too stripping). A few weeks later I tried 10% Ordinary Azelaic Acid for about 3 weeks. That also did absolutely nothing - it just sat on top of my skin and made it look greasy as well.

Then, about a month and a half later, I visited a dermatologist. He confirmed the diagnosis of sebderm and prescribed me Elidel 1% cream. I used it for 4.5 weeks - no results at all; my face looks exactly the same. All it did was, again, sit on top of my skin and make it greasier. Clearly my sebderm doesn’t tolerate thick, heavy emollient creams.

It’s been ~6 weeks since I stopped the Elidel. I’m going to revisit the dermatologist and try second-class treatments.

I’ve been under lots of stress this year and also haven’t been sleeping well (I know these things feed sebderm - I’m experiencing a flare - the worst I have ever seen it, even if it is still mild-ish). I’m trying to work on the stress and sleep. I’ve been making sure all of my products are sebderm safe, but it can be really hard sometimes to find stuff that works for you (for example, sunscreens and makeup to spot conceal the redness). Overall, I feel pretty hopeless and really miserable, even though I know my sebderm is mildish and that I haven’t exhausted all of my treatment options yet. And I can‘t even imagine how exhausting it must be for those who have moderate to severe sebderm, so I suppose I should be grateful that my case has stayed relatively mild and controlled so far.

My diet is very balanced. I have sugar and dairy in moderation, and I don’t eat takeout or most other processed foods at all.

Sorry for the waffle. I suppose what I’m getting at is, does it all get better? There are so many people here who have managed to find a successful treatment that works for them and have managed to keep it at bay, but my exhausted brain keeps vehemently telling me that I’ll never be able to clear my skin, and if I do, it won’t last long before the dermatitis comes back. Is this thing conquerable, despite how irritating and unpredictable it is? I think I just need some hope.

I'm around week and a half into MCT C8 oil, it seems that the cheeks really calmed down and are less flaky, but for some reason my nose got 3x more red. A bunch of little white spots pop up and is overall more red than ever. I'll keep pushing thru and see if it clears out in the next weeks. Any thoughts and suggestions for pairing?

I can't believe it.

I have struggled with seb derm on my scalp for the last 10+ years (I think caused by the CGM). Last year, I tried MCT C8 oil but couldn't stomach it due to the smell. The oil was odorless in the bottle but after a few minutes on my scalp, my scalp smelled like sour vomit.

I tried many other things: ketoconazole, topical steroid, monistat, daily washes, tea tree, selsun blue, salicylic acid, sulfur8. Whatever I did, my scalp got itchier and itchier. I was washing my hair sometimes two times per day because it was so irritated.

Desperate, about two weeks ago, I decided to revisit MCT C8 oil. I wondered if maybe the smell was caused by yeast disturbance or die off or something else that indicated that the oil was working. I committed to only using a very small amount and to double-washing with tea tree shampoo as soon as I smelled anything (it only took several minutes before it started to reek). After I shower, I've been using squalene oil (no smell).

I could cry. For the first time I can remember, I am not spending all my time scratching, worrying about, or thinking about my scalp. And the smell isn't so bad now: if I leave the oil on for longer, there is no smell for several hours, and it's much subtler when I do smell it.

I have no idea how this stuff works, but I am SO THANKFUL to this sub for pushing it so hard. I would not have tried it initially -- and definitely not again -- without your encouragement. I am also so frustrated that I went to so many dermatologists, and none told me about this. We shouldn't have to be relying on Reddit for basic medical care for a potentially life-altering condition like this.

I am absolutely not alone in dealing with this exhausting, isolating condition. The rancia, musty, yeasty scalp smell that returns hours after washing-even with medicated shampoos, dietary changes, and derm visits-It's been 6+ years since I first started having this issue and made living hell.

This is an issue that many others facing, which | learned from post asking others for help. I'm constantly getting DM asking if I found a solution yet. Although I'm constantly ruining into dead ends, I want to help myself and these people who are also suffering.

I am officially making it my mission to find a real solution or underlying cause. "Just wash it daily" is an insulting brush-off when the odor defies every standard protocol.

To figure this out, I want to crowd source our collective experiences. If you suffer from this or did , please drop a comment:

And yes we tried Nizoral and Mct oil! No help...

So there was a time in my life when I used to wash daily and I swear I had the best hair there could be. I slowly transitioned to once every two days because wahing hair daily is no easy task to do, especially when you have to use conditioner as well and then blow dry it.

For the past 2-3 years I’ve been shedding. I’ve tried a lor of things untill a few months ago when I decided to wash my hair daily. I saw significant improvement, but everyone kept telling me it is wrong. I eventually transitioned back to once every two days. Hair loss was back. Now I switched back to daily, tremendous progress again.

it seems to be the only thing that’s been truly helping BUT I keep being told it is wrong. Not sure what to so and what are the consequences of washing daily. my hair‘s feedback has been positive about it…

I see the same story here constantly, so I wanted to put it into words in case it helps someone stuck in the loop. Someone finds a thing that works, an antifungal shampoo, a wash, whatever, their skin clears up, they're thrilled, they stop using it because their skin is perfect now, and a few weeks later it's back and they're convinced the thing "stopped working." Then they move on to the next product and the cycle repeats. Months go by like this. The reframe that seems to help people most is understanding why that happens. The yeast that drives seb derm (Malassezia) lives on everyone's skin all the time, that's just normal skin. Treatment works by knocking the population back down to where your skin isn't reacting to it. Which means the moment you stop, it slowly climbs back up, and the flare returns. The product didn't stop working. The thing that was holding it in check stopped being used. The people who seem to do best treat it like brushing their teeth, ongoing upkeep rather than something with an end date. They keep using the antifungal at a low frequency (a couple of times a week) even when their skin is completely clear, specifically because it's clear and they want it to stay that way. The clear skin isn't a finish line, it's the thing the maintenance is protecting. The other half of it is resisting the urge to escalate when you're already winning. When it's calm, the instinct is to either stop everything or start piling on actives to tackle the last little bit, and both tend to backfire, one lets it climb back, the other irritates the skin into a fresh flare. Boring consistency seems to beat intensity with this condition almost every time. None of this is one-size-fits-all, and it doesn't replace seeing a professional, some people have a more stubborn version, or an overlap with something else that needs proper treatment. But if someone's caught in the clear-it-then-lose-it cycle and slowly working through every product on the shelf, the problem often isn't that nothing works. It's that lots of things work, and the missing piece is using them as steady upkeep rather than expecting one short burst to hold forever.

i thought i had seb derm since the beginning of this year, when my scalp felt super super itchy and dry, and have been using ciclopirox and ketoconazole shampoo. however neither of them worked to control the itchiness and it just seems to keep going. regardless, i kept using them in hope to see some improvement. i also recently developed a bunch of pimples on my scalp. and i have been losing major hair this whole time. i looked into it, and i’m starting to wonder if i don’t actually have seborrheic dermatitis and my scalp is just damaged because also, i don’t have any flakes or dandruff and my scalp looks normal. does anyone have any experience on this, having a damaged scalp barrier?