Dandruff
Dandruff is a very common skin condition which causes flakiness of scalp. The scalp is made up of skin cells and when these cells die, they shed in the form of white flakes. Shedding of skin is a natural process, but if dead cells removal becomes excessive, the flakes become visible. It affects nearly half of the human population and is more common in males mostly after puberty.
It’s not contagious and doesn’t usually pose a threat to health, but can be unpleasant and embarrassing. It can range from mild to severe. It could be of two major types:
- Dry (flakes appear silvery and white)
- Moist (flakes appear pale yellowish with unpleasant smell.)
CAUSES OF DANDRUFF
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
- Infection ( Pityrosporum Ovale or Malassezia Globosa)
- Excessive use of hair sprays, gels
- Improper use of hair, colouring products, hot iron curls
- Cold weather, dry indoor heating
- Infrequent shampooing of hair or Inadequate rinsing or shampooing of hair
- Poor Hygiene
- Excessive junk food
- Though Dandruff is called as Dry Scalp but the people with oily scalp tend to suffer the most
SYMPTOMS OF DANDRUFF
- Itchiness and flakiness of scalp is the hallmark of Dandruff
- White flakes over the scalp and hair
- Flakes when in excess, fall on shoulder
- Flakes more noticeable on wearing dark coloured clothes
- Itchiness, soreness, redness of scalp
- Flakes may be dry or greasy
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT
Homeopathic treatment targets treating dandruff in totality or it treats the underlying cause of dandruff and hence helps preventing recurrence of dandruff.
The homeopathic medicines alter 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.