Assessing Treatment of Pruritic Scalp

Pruritic scalp has not traditionally been specifically categorized as a separate dermatologic condition; but rather it has been included within the broad category of seborrheic dermatitis. This has severely limited testing and understanding of this entity.

The objective of this study was to assess patient satisfaction with various topical and oral therapies for pruritic scalp. For this purpose, an open-label, five-week study, 12 patients with pruritic scalp were given five different therapies, each to be used for one week. The participants then completed a survey to assess their opinion on the different therapies.

No one treatment was universally preferred. Lanacaine solution and steroid solution achieved slightly higher marks. In a few cases, oral antihistamines proved curative.

In short, pruritic scalp is a distinct condition in which one experiences episodic itching of the head without any visible or pathological sign of psoriasis, head lice, or any other scalp disorder. The divergent responses in this study underlines that there are probably different factors and trigger points which elicit the condition. More studies on this entity are warranted.