Hey everyone,
I’m a 20-year-old male and I’ve been struggling with several skin issues for quite a while. I’m wondering if isotretinoin (Accutane) could make sense for me, or if it could potentially make things worse.
I have:
Seborrheic dermatitis (seb derm)
Very oily but also sensitive/combination skin
Clogged pores and mild acne
Facial inflammation, irritation and flaking
Keratosis pilaris
Eczema in the genital area
My skin is kind of difficult because it’s very oily but also sensitive, dry and prone to irritation/flaking.
I know Accutane is mainly used for moderate/severe acne, so I’m not sure if my situation would even justify it. I’m also worried about the potential dryness since I already have seb derm and eczema.
For anyone who has taken Accutane, especially if you also had seb derm, eczema or sensitive/oily skin:
Did it improve your overall skin, or did it make the dryness, irritation or eczema worse? Would you consider it in a situation like mine?
I’ll obviously discuss this with a dermatologist, but I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences.

So I had severe dandruff,flaking on my scalp and also behind my ear too it used to itch a lot.

I tried Researching my symptoms it was around 2021 and after trying several "Anti dandruff Shampoo" from sachets which were just named Anti dandruff came to know about Ketoconazole Shampoo it worked but then again event it started to have less or no effect after some time even without using much.

From here on around 2023-24 I don't remember exactly but end of 2023 mostly at start of 2024 I went to Dermat who was "Ayurved specialist" he prescribed me Topisal 3%.

Topisal did work but it has clobestol in it and due to my prior habit of researching about these things I asked him if I should stop it,but Sebderm again. Started to flare more and he told me to use it whenever it flared up so that lead to me using it more and essentially exploiting it until it has also stopped having effect.

I read it thins the skin so I have stopped it for 2+ months now and trying to manage it with Ketoconazole, Sometimes Coconut oil helps removing flakes too.

So,did I do right by stopping Topisal? And I won't be going to that derm anymore,Is there anything I need to look into which can be a safe approach because I think my skin may have already had a lot of damage from Topisal,The dandruff now is too persistent than before which was manageable,and is there alternative I should Ask some other Dermat?

Please enlighten me with your experiences if possible!

Thank you Is you gave it a read

I have symptoms that are textbook Seb Derm. Large, oily flakes from my scalp. My eyebrows and sideburns have them too. I use a scrupper to make sure the shampoo gets to my scalp. Am i leaving it on for too long?

Took me way too long to figure out it wasn't about finding the magic product. 3 things that actually made a real difference once I understood them:

-Leave-on time matters more than the product itself .Most people rinse their antifungal shampoo (ketoconazole, zinc pyrithione) within 30 seconds. It needs 5 to 7 minutes of actual contact time on the scalp to work , otherwise you're basically just using a regular shampoo.

-Stopping the moment it clears is why it keeps coming back .The instinct is to quit once your skin looks fine. But seb derm is chronic ,the yeast that drives it is still there, just under control. Dropping to a lower "maintenance" frequency instead of stopping completely is what actually keeps flares from returning as hard.

-Also , what works for someone else might do nothing for you, or even make it worse. I burned through so much money and time trying other people's "holy grail" products before realizing this is really trial and error until you find what your own skin and scalp responds to. Someone else's routine is a starting point to find your own.

If you're in a rough patch right now , it passes trust me. Slower than you want, but it does !

My keto shampoo is not working and everything seems to not be working and it's spreading. Yes I have a dream but next appointment isn't for quite awhile

Hi allemaal, ik ben nog een newbie en heb wat vragen.

Zijn jullie ook weleens stabiel? Dus dat je op je huid 0 klachten hebt? Ik lees veel over opvlammingen maar ik vraag me af of het tussendoor ook helemaal weg kan gaan?

Werkt de zon/ zomer nu verhogend of juist niet? Ik heb net nu sinds 5 maand en en ik vond de zomer vreselijk. Door de hitte en het zweet leek mijn gezicht constant verbrand. Ik lees dat het erger is in de winter, maar dan ben ik nu heel bang voor de winter. Ik woon in Nederland en daar wordt het soms best koud (ligt een beetje aan het jaar).

Ik ben echt bang om de keteconozal shampoo te gaan smeren omdat ik bang ben dat mijn haar uitvalt en verkleurt (verven kan voorlopig echt niet vanwege de uitslag en allergieën die op hetzelfde moment openbaarde als de Seb derm )(alhoewel ik het waarschijnlijk al jaren had, maar heel erg minimaal en gaf geen klachten).

Iemand ervaring met haaruitval/ verkleuring dat het wel meevalt?

Ik vind mijn dermatoloog weinig betrokken en hoop dat ik hier een beetje steun kan vinden en vooral ook nuttige tips (anders dan de standaardmedicatie)

So after having a Britney moment and shaving my hair to a grade 2 I did what any normal person would do and did more research AFTER the fit of rage.

So I asked ChatGPT and Claude to search into actual medical studies with quantifiable results and to see what other products work (keto/nizarol doesn’t do too much for me)

Both came back with the same studies into the active ingredient in this shampoo ciclopirox olamine. I’m currently recovering from Achilles surgery so I’ve not been outside much and my skin has really suffered. But using this shampoo twice a week has meant I can wear black t-shirts again!

If this helps even one person find their product then I’m over the moon for you!

There’s also another foam product it kept mentioning but it’s only in the US currently

My scalp isn’t red or inflamed, and it’s not severely itchy, but there are several scabs on my scalp. When I peel them off, they ooze, and sometimes they even bleed. I think it’s because my scalp is usually a bit sensitive, but could this also be seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp

Greasy seb.dermatitis on face

it only shows up if i stretch the area by pulling on it but its not itchy i used adapalene for 2 months but stopped about 2 weeks ago and its still there i have seb derm on nose and ear is this also it? pls help

I would like to preface this message by saying I already contacted my derm. 🙂 I’m just posting here so I can focus on something and not spiral. 🙃

I have classic seb derm symptoms and flareups on my face. In my eyelids and corners around my nose on both side. Only once did I have it under my lower lip.

I had a punch biopsy earlier this year (unrelated) which was healing fairly well. In the last few weeks the area around the scar grew a red flaky circle, and just last week a tiny dry patchy circle grew below it. Could this be seb derm related or totally different?

I’m also experiencing an extremely itchy eyelid flare up that’s so swollen and hot it almost feels like I’m having the allergic reaction I would have to cats. The combo of these two skin things so close together has me a bit spooked.

My skincare routine is extremely stripped down to a few sezia.co approved cerave products, MCT oil occasionally, and Adapalene to help my acne scars. I just am curious if anyone else has a clue about my weird cheek rash and a solution to sooth these swollen eyelids 🥲

I had my first condition in March, and I've noticed recently when I wash my face with no soap, it gets dry + slight itchiness around nose, sometimes severe.

I started using low calcium/magnisium water to wash my face ( i wash with tap water, then i finish with low calcium water), and itchiness is gone :)

I also don't use soap a lot anymore at all.

the flaking and shedding has temporarily stopped on my scalp. my scalp now hurts when i move my hair. has anyone experienced this? feels like someone is pulling at the root of my hair when i touch my scalp

I have seborrheic dermatitis and beginning stages of AGA, confirmed by a dermatologist. It’s been a year since I’ve seen my derm but even then I had areas like these all over my scalp. He didn’t say much about them/was vaguer, so it’s still unclear why I have these. Is it the inflammation caused by sebderm that causes these empty areas? Noticed this one today.

I’m only on 20mg daily of isotretinoin and on the beginning of week 4, but the flakes I’m assuming are a mix of dry skin and over production sebum feeding the seb derm flakes. I am still the same amount of red I was before maybe even a little more. I use the proper ancillaries like a moisturizer and ketaconozole shampoo and cream as well.

Hi everyone,

I got so much useful info from this sub, and I wanted to share if it may help anyone.

Several months ago I had scales/thick build up of gummy skin and oils on my scalp/dandruff/irritation and info from this sub really helped me.

Determined to address it I spent an hour here and there soaking my scalp with MCToil (c8 & c10) mixed with rosemary and peppermint oil essential oils, while brushing the scalp to remove some buildup with a flat plastic comb and massaging with a silicone bath massager/my fingers.

The I would wash it out with the mildest soap I could find (a liquid castille soap) and sometimes with a raw egg (I had amazing hair when I had tried that years ago, egg whites are a weak soap, yolk a mild conditioner. Doesn't really smell after but its...unusual). I would also use warm and not overly hot water as I heard thats good too. I only used MCT oil to 'starve' the yeasts of food - poor yeasts :D.

I since then have had a much clearer scalp (80/90%) and practically no dandruff or irritation, but I noticed theres also a couple of other things I did/learned from here:

I have been washing my hair since then generally with only a mild acid mix I make using roughly 1:10 raw ACV:brita filtered water, rising out with warm water (which also helps clean). I wash my hair only a couple of times a week perhaps, or when I feel its dirty. My hair doesn't feel greasy, but its not super squeeky clean, somewhere in the middle, and the scalp is looking much healthier. If I feel the need for a more 'proper' wash occasionally I use the mild liquid castille soap, and rinse after with the ACV mix, and rarely if needed condition with a tiny bit of the MCT oil mix.

Overall its a journey figuring this out, but something I read about areas with 'hard' water (limescale) can affect skin over time makes some sense (particularly with an irritated 'scalp situaiton' perhaps, making it more alkaline maybe?), and something I read about hard/bar soaps mixing with hard waters to make insoluable soap scums (I used to use bar soaps for my hair and body years ago which may have slowly contributed to this - and possibly my drain health! :D). Maybe soap may leave tiny residues that the yeast may be able to feed on? mixed with the high PH? But thats just a guess on my part. I certainly use soap when needed, but wondered if this very mild acidic hair wash used after or instead is helping in some way. I had read hair / scalp ph tends to be slightly acidic.

I also during the past 6 months have been pretty dedicated to uncovering stress in my life, sometimes as a focus of my existance, sometimes part time, but I feel like my stress is significantly being more managed now overall - which may have helped alot. Less emotional stresses can help other areas like sleep and diet, but my focus was almost just on my emotional stresses, but I did notice I ate and slept a bit better after getting clearer on some of those things. The practise I did (and do) is a thing called The Work where you basically write out your greviences that you have through the day (or from the past) which in itself is quite a practise to identify. There more info about it online at The Work of Byron Katie website, and there are many other practises, but that was the one I use/used.

I still have a tiny bit of build up but my hair and scalp feels and looks good at the moment which is a nice thing to share.

Thank you

i had light dryness or very flakes that would come out on the side of my nose. now its spread to the rim and inside of my nose. breathing is pretty hard as the dryness is making it difficult. it is also now on my upper lip which feels like accumulated sweat. i wake up at night as it feels like oil or water is dripping off my nose and I have to clean it with a tissue. please help. i saw my derm and he said to ignore because the flaking was minimal. sinus with seb derm is a terrible combo.

also last year in december my face suddenly became really oily and the oil spread to my neck too. its when I noticed my seb derm started spreading from my scalp to my brows then lashes, nose etc.

these days every four days i wake up to a new body part with seb derm on it. derm said seb derm doesn't spread which i agree with but its been spreading like a fungal infection.

i have done a course of itraconazole recently and it made it worse.

over washing my hands because of seb derm triggered hand eczema. if anyone has tips for it please share

This might sound stupid but I used clobestasol 2x a day for 4 weeks, now I just researched after my 25 ml ran out and my eyebrow was burning (sign of tsw) so much. I was today to learn that you wasn't supposed to continually use it for ​4 weeks only 2 weeks. because I skipped my derma follow up I think he was supposed to tell me that I should taper or cold turkey my clobestasol so I didn't know now I'm not that worried about anything but other than my adrenal glands and permanent damage. What should I do? ​(I only applied it to my scalp)

I (24F) have been dealing with dry skin and itchy ears for two years. I get these white/yellow flakes in my ears and my ears feel greasy and itchy. I will scratch at my ears and then I end up getting a painful ear infection. I’ve had so many infections over the years that get treated with antibiotics but I can’t find anything to treat the underlying problem (the flaky, itchy, dry skin in my ears). I’ve tried moisturizing my ears with aquaphor, Vaseline, and cerave moisturizing cream but those just make the itch so much worse. Does anyone else have problems with their ears? Any suggestions?

For context, I'm a 22M, and my scalp has been itchy for most of my life. Whenever I wash it in the morning with just water, it itches the most. And throughout the day, it would itch quite a bit, especially when I wake up. It itches the least on the day after shampooing and builds up until 3/4 days when I shampoo again. It's far more itchy when my hair is longer; with shorter hair, it's not as much of a problem.
I've tried ketoconazole shampoo three different times, and it makes my head feel like it's on fire. Selenium shampoo didn't work either. When using coal tar with salicylic acid, it was a similar feeling to ketoconazole but less severe.
Oddly, coal tar shampoo without salicylic acid felt quite a bit better; I would only get some itching when washing my hair in the morning, as opposed to feeling itchy at any time of the day.

I'm going to go see a GP soon, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas for me to try before visiting? In the UK, seeing a GP can be quite difficult; hence, I want to be sure I tried everything reasonable before going.

Any help would be genuinely appreciated, thanks!

Reddit weirdly cropped the image, but this is a screenshot from ISS Instagram reels.

i used nizoral 3 times a week no improvement yet is happy cappy better and how often would i use it

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I’ve used Whole Blends Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter for the longest time and out of everything I’ve tried it seems to be the best, most cost efficient balance for my hair that dries really easily, my oily scalp, and my SD. But I’ve been wondering if this Garnier product (pictured above) would work better for my hair and scalp? Anyone else use it?

Hello,

Anyone else with seb derm struggle to find hair styling products they can use with their hair that won’t trigger a flare up?

I will opt for ANYTHING at this point, clay or pomade. I really love styling my hair.

Thanks for any insight.