RESEARCH ARTICLE
Therapeutic Implications of Chemically- and Biologically-Altered Sebum Being One Cause of Seborrheic Dermatitis
Craig G. Burkhart*, 1, Craig N. Burkhart2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 1
Last Page: 4
Publisher ID: TODJ-2-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874372200802010001
Article History:
Received Date: 20/11/2007Revision Received Date: 07/12/2007
Acceptance Date: 31/12/2007
Electronic publication date: 15/1/2008
Collection year: 2008
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Seborrheic dermatitis affects approximately 2 to 5% of the populace. Interestingly, the term ‘seborrheic dermatitis’ is somewhat a misnomer as there is no direct quantitative relationship between the degree of sebaceous activity and susceptibility to seborrheic dermatitis.
Method:
A pilot study was performed to initiate assessment of patient satisfaction with oral minocycline and topical ketoconazole for seborrheic dermatitis, and in so doing, set a stage for discussion for a novel assessment on the pathophysiology of this condition.
Results:
Clinical improvement of seborrheic dermatitis occurred with oral minocycline and topical ketoconazole. In terms of all parameters studied, the condition improved with therapy and all patients desired to continue with the treatment regimen.
Conclusions:
One could speculate that the clinical benefit of seborrheic dermatitis with antibiotics is likely via its effect on the microbiology within the sebaceous unit as well as on the alterations which thereby occur to the composition of the sebaceous secretions as they pass through the pilosebaceous unit. After being secreted, human sebum can be altered by various factors including secretion of hyaluronidase, proteases, and lipases by P. acnes. A closer examination of the alteration in sebum content both in the seborrheic condition and in treatment therapies warrants further investigation.