Dandruff is one of the most common ailments affecting the scalp. Dandruff is nothing but excessive scaling of dead cells of the skin of the scalp. As you are aware, the body undergoes constant but gradual renewal every 24 hours. However, when it is a much faster renewal of the skin, it becomes visible in the form of scales, which we call dandruff.

Symptoms of dandruff:

Dandruff, per se, is not a disease but a symptom. Excessive and obvious scaling of skin which is visible in the form of white (grey), the flaky substance is the most common symptom (or sign) of dandruff. It may often be associated with itching, oily skin, irritation or redness of the underlying skin. It tends to be chronic (long-lasting) as well as recurring.

Dandruff could be of two major types: a. Dry (flakes appear silvery and white) b. Moist. (where the flakes appear pale yellowish with an unpleasant smell.)

Causes of dandruff:

Dandruff results from rapid maturing (and hence shedding) of the cells every week, instead of every month.

Excessive oil (sebum) production precipitates dandruff in many people. This overactivity could result from more than one reason. The causes, triggering factors and maintaining factors can be categorized as under:

Dandruff is often found to be is mostly seasonal. Some patients find it most severe during winter and mildest during summer.

Though Dandruff is called as Dry Scalp, the people with oily scalp tend to suffer the most.

Diagnosis of dandruff:

While concluding the exact diagnosis of dandruff, your doctor often requires ruling out other underlying diseases, which often resemble present like dandruff: They are

• Seborrhoeic dermatitis
• Psoriasis
• Fungal infection

Your doctor will be able to evaluate your history and the exact diagnosis could be arrived at by a close clinical examination. No biopsy is required.

Treatment of dandruff:

The challenge of treating dandruff lies in the successful control of its relapse. It is not very difficult to treat dandruff for once. However, it is not easy to treat dandruff forever!

The treatment for dandruff should aim at controlling the underlying causing factors as well as the symptoms.

Conventional treatment:

The conventional treatment often treats the end result rather than the root cause of dandruff. Most commonly measures are the use of

• Use of Anti-dandruff shampoo’s
• Ketoconazole
• Antifungal shampoo
• Selenium sulphide

Homeopathic treatment:

Homeopathic treatment aims are treating dandruff in totality. In other words, it treats the underlying cause of dandruff (please check the causes as described above) and hence helps to prevent the recurrence of dandruff.

The medicines used for dandruff are geared towards altering the activity of the scalp tissue and therefore slow down the multiplication of the cells of the scalp. Homeopathic medicines possibly depress the abnormal multiplication of cells of the scalp called ‘stratum corneum’. Homeopathic medicines are unique in the respect that they can act as immune-modulators and address underlying immunological parameters while treating dandruff.