Severe dryness of scalp resulting in Dandruff.

Dandruff is a common scalp disorder affecting almost half of the population at the post-pubertal age and of any gender and ethnicity. It often causes itching. It has been well established that keratinocytes play a key role in the expression and generation of immunological reactions during dandruff formation. The severity of dandruff may fluctuate with season as it often worsens in winter.

Your skin constantly renews itself; dead cells from the scalp fall off as new cells form beneath them. Everyone loses skin cells in this way. Many people think they get dandruff because their scalp is too dry. They stop washing their hair with shampoo or wash it less frequently, because they believe it makes the condition worse. This is not true.

Seborrhoeic dermatitis 

Severe cases of dandruff are caused by a disease called seborrhoeic eczema or seborrhoeic dermatitis, which causes greasy bran-like scale. The seborrhoeic area may also be red and itchy - that's your eyebrows, ears, scalp, the skin around your nose, the lines on your cheeks and your torso. Seborrhoeic dermatitis becomes worse in winter and tends to improve during the summer when sunlight relieves the symptoms.It can vary from mild cases, which are only a problem in winter, to more severe cases where flaking occurs in places other than just the scalp.It is a common form of skin eczema that occurs in parts of the body with high oil (sebum) production. Body areas that are commonly affected include the scalp, ears, face, chest, and folds of skin, such as the underarms or the skin below breasts or overhanging abdominal folds.Dandruff is the shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp. As skin cells die a small amount of flaking is normal; about 487,000 cells/cm2 get released normally after detergent treatment. Some people, however, experience an unusually large amount of flaking either chronically or as a result of certain triggers, up to 800,000 cells/cm2, which can also be accompanied by redness and irritation.

Symptoms of dandruff 

Excessive and obvious scaling of skin which is visible in the form of white , flaky substance is the most common symptom of dandruff. It may often be associated with itching, oily skin, irritation or redness of underlying skin. It tends to be chronic as well as recurring.

Dandruff could be of two major types

•  Dry (flakes appear silvery and white)
•  Moist. (where the flakes appear pale yellowish with 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 over activity could result from more than one reason. The causes, triggering factors and maintaining factors can be categorized as under 

Internal causes

• Hormonal imbalance
• Poor Health
• Allergic Hypersensitive
• Emotional Stress 
• Excessive consumption of fat, starch, sugar
• Improper Nutrition
• Hereditary Predisposition

 External causes 

• Infection (Pityrosporum Ovale or Malassezia Globosa) (Debatable.)
• Excessive use of hair sprays, gels 
• Improper use of hair : coloring products, hot iron curl 
• Cold weather, dry indoor heating 
• Infrequent shampooing of hair or Inadequate rinsing or shampooing of hair 
• Poor Hygiene
• Excessive junk food

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 but the people with oily scalp tend to suffer the most.

Treatment for dandruff 

The medicines uses 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.

Astha clinic suggests avoiding frequent use of anti-dandruff shampoo. The day you stop using the shampoo, the dandruff resurfaces with more severity! You are suggested to wash scalp with plane, warm water daily or use mild, baby shampoo.Our Homeopathic and herbal treatment is safe and very effective for dandruff. It treats the underlying cause of dandruff and hence helps preventing recurrence of dandruff.