Scope of Homeopathy: Excellent chances of recovery
Dandruff
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, body undergoes constant but gradual renewal every
24 hours. However, when it is 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), flaky
substance is the most common symptom (or sign) of dandruff. It may often be
associated with itching, oily skin, irritation or redness of 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
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
External causes
Hormonal imbalance
Infection (Pityrosporum Ovale or
Malassezia Globosa) (Debatable.)
Poor Health
Excessive use of hair sprays, gels
Allergic Hypersensitive
Improper use of hair : coloring products, hot iron curls
Emotional Stress
Cold weather, dry indoor heating
Excessive consumption of fat, starch, sugar
Infrequent shampooing of hair or Inadequate rinsing or
shampooing of hair
Improper Nutrition
Poor Hygiene
Hereditary Predisposition
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.
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
a.Seborrhoeic dermatitis
b.Psoriasis
c.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 use of
a. Use of Anti-dandruff shampoo’s
b. Ketoconazole
c. Antifungal shampoo
d. 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 preventing recurrence of
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 called ‘stratum corneum’. Homeopathic
medicines are unique in the respect that they can act as immune-modulators and
possibly enhance the action of the immune-system in clearing away the irritating
factors in dandruff.
Homeopathic treatment is safe and very effective for
dandruff, which is strongly recommended.