Alison Odey

Original question: ‘My son has had what I think the doctors call  ‘Seborrheic Dermatitis'(although I am a little confused as another GP said it was ‘Sebaceous
Dermatitis’) on the centre panel of his face for some years now.
It appears just like a small area of dryish skin that becomes red and then flakes off, leaving
the skin looking paler than usual. The GP has simply given him a mild corticoid steroid cream to use but of course it just relieves the symptoms for a short time.
I also visited a naturopath and she gave me a series of ‘blood cleansing’ herbs and recommended I obtain naturally made skin cleansers rather than normal soaps and body washes for my son to use. He has used the herbs and still uses natural skin cleansing products but the condition continues to be a nuisance.
Have you any ideas that could eliminate this problem all together?’

………..Seborrheic Dermatitis is a common inflammatory skin condition affecting the upper layers of skin. It appears as red itchy skin often with flaky white/yellow scaly patches that form on oily areas such as the scalp.
Can appear as ‘cradle cap’ on infants or as ‘dandruff’ on adolescents, but can also affect areas other than the scalp, as in this case.

It can be aggravated by stress, fatigue, excessive oily skin, the use of harsh skin preparations containing alcohol or by too infrequent hair and skin washing.

Sebaceous Dermatitis is more usually called ‘acne’.
See page on ‘Acne – facial’.

My usual first recommendation is to greatly increase the levels of Zinc in the body, best as always, achieved by using Colloidal minerals rather than by using Zinc tablets. This greatly improves the ability of the skin to heal and is often the only treatment necessary.
See pages on ‘Minerals – facts’ and ‘Minerals – why we need to Supplement’.

However it is also good to take a Halibut oil or Cod Liver oil capsule daily as an increased source of Vitamin A and continue to use natural skin preparations.

Taking 3000mg of Evening Primrose oil once or twice daily will also help relieve the inflammation.

If this does not prove to be sufficient then I would try adding a good probiotic to this regime.
One that contains Lactobacillus rhamnosus (HN001 strain) and Bifidobacterium lactis(HN019 strain) as well as Lactobacillus acidophilus (NCFM strain). It is not sufficient simply to eat yoghurt and best results are obtained when using these specific
strains.
See page on ‘Probiotics’.

Seborrheic dermatitis can also have a fungal cause, once again I feel more common when the Zinc levels of the body are low, but in this case there can be improvement with the use of natural shampoos containing tea tree oil or Manuka extracts.