Dandruff Diseases: Know your skin

Dandruff refers to a chronic syndrome when the skin of the scalp peels off in large amounts. The exact cause of dandruff is not yet known. However, medical scientists feel that it may be caused due to excessive secretion from the sebaceous or oil glands of the scalp or due to dry scalp. To understand dandruff, we must know the scalp and the skin.

SKIN: The scalp is a part of the human skin that constitutes the body’s largest organ. The skin of an average adult male weighs 10 to 11 lb (4.5 to 5 kg) and measures about 22 sq ft (2 sq m) in area. It covers the surface of the body at a thickness of 0.06 to 0.16 in (1.4 to 4.0 mm). The skin is thickest on areas of the body that regularly rub against objects, such as the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Both delicate and resilient, the skin constantly renews itself. It also has a remarkable ability to repair itself after injury.

HAIR: The largest amount of hair on a human body grows on the scalp.  It is a distinguishing characteristic of mammals, a group of vertebrates that includes humans. A thick coat of body hair is known as fur. It protects many mammals from the cold and from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. In humans, this protective function is limited chiefly to the hair on the scalp.

SEBORRHEA: If dandruff is not diagnosed at the initial stages, it can cause many diseases of the scalp. One common ailment caused by dandruff of the scalp skin is called Seborrhea. Its symptoms are increased or altered secretion of sebum, or fatty matter. These items are manifested by an oily or scaly appearance of the skin, especially of the hairy parts.

EFFECTS: They may interfere with hair nutrition, and resulting in partial baldness. Sebum can also accumulate in the gland ducts. This makes the glands distended with the un-discharged sebum that form a small hard body called a whitehead or comedo. If the sebum in the duct mouth gets discolored with dirt, the comedo is called blackhead.

BALDNESS: Also known as Alopecia, baldness is a disease. It can lead to partial or complete loss of hair from the scalp. Baldness can affect the entire head or can be at certain spots. Besides the afore-mentioned scalp disorder, lice infection can be another cause of baldness. It can be in the extreme form leading to constant scratching caused by itching as the lice bite the scalp to suck blood.  Other causes of baldness can be reaction to drugs, diseases affecting the entire body, aging, hereditary factors and ionizing radiation.

DANDRUFF REMEDY: Dandruff is tackled by frequent uses of medicated shampoos as prescribed by the physician.