5 People Who Cured Seborrheic Dermatitis with Diet Alone

Originally published at: 5 People Who Cured Seborrheic Dermatitis with Diet Alone

There are several instances online of people reporting to have cured the seborrheic dermatitis with diet alone. This article summarizes all of these cases.

Hi,
I have suffered from SD for nearly 30 years, I have tried this diet for some time now and eat clean, exercise regularly, do basically everything that is talked about here but to no avail…

Hi Mark,
Sorry to hear that you’ve had it for such a long time. I know first hand the type of impact in can have on quality of life (especially social).
Since you have had it for so long it would be amazing to get some insight about the condition from you. How it evolved, how it came to be and what treatments really stood out along the way.

Currently I have been able to control my seborrheic dermatitis about 98% with an extremely simple strategy, which I’ve outlined here. However, I have only suffered for about 2-3 years prior to this. So it would really be interesting to hear how yours progress over such a long period of time.

For me I found that trying to control it with diet was very mysterious. It really seemed that at times it was mind over matter and that by thinking bad things about a certain type a food I would simply raise cortisol levels and the seborrheic dermatitis would strike. One thing I did notice is that water fasting would make the seborrheic dermatitis disappear extremely quickly. After a day or two of water fasting seborrheic dermatitis would be gone. However, obviously I can’t live on just water. Right now I’m not doing any dietary restrictions/modifications (except I don’t consume dairy, but this was the case before I even got seborrheic dermatitis).

Really hope some of the information on this website can help you. Look forward to hearing back from you. All the best!

Hi Michael,

Water fasting is a curious one, I wouldn’t last 2 hours on water, I drink a lot of it but love my food, I am currently on a Gluten Free diet and consuming water only, no alcohol for a while now, my face seems to be clearing up but I am also using Cortizone cream twice a day so putting it down to that…it comes and goes all the time, the climate here in Sydney probably doesn’t help but Im from Ireland and I had it bad there too.
I cant quite tell when it first flared up but I did suffer with acne in my teenage years…skin problems have been the bane of my existence since I was a teen, im now 45.
I cant say what works best for me as I try so many different shampoos and creams etc. I definitely believe diet has something to do with it and really hope eating clean and staying off the booze will help…but in saying that ive eaten badly and been on the grog in the past and it never flared up and then for no reason out it comes…weird…Ill keep updated on my current diet and situation…

Mark

Michael,

Just a question on the L’Glutamine, why did you stop taking that?

Mark

Hi Mark,
Yeah water fasting was quite difficult. Was not really a sustainable way for me to control my seborrheic dermatitis :). However, it did demonstrate for me that it was connected to food/digestion.

The whole gluten free thing kept appearing when I was researching on ways to fight my problem. When going gluten free I also saw some improvements, but they were somewhat inconsistent and it wasn’t fully gone. Looking back I really think it’s more of a psychological thing. If in your mind you believe that going gluten free helps you are more calm about your skin in general. This calmness of the mind helps to keep anxiety and cortisol spikes down, which reduces inflammation.
Right now I’m back on a regular healthy diet. Whole grains, fish and vegetables make up a large portion of it and I feel great.

One thing that gluten does do, is slow digestion. I believe this why many people associate many issues with it. As digestion slows down other digestive issues become more prominent. So for example if you have some sort of damage or infection somewhere along the digestive tract it will likely start acting up as the system is slowed down. Perhaps smaller meal sizes and staying well hydrated can help with this (for me this helped greatly).

In general I found that seborrheic dermatitis is extremely strange. It seemed to come and go as it pleased. Additionally many treatments seemed to have great initial results for a week or two. After this initial phase most treatments ceased to stop working so well.

Hope you find something sustainable that works for you!

Hello Again :slight_smile:

I’m not really a fan of supplements in general. Additionally I didn’t want to effect my own internal glutamine production by over providing the body. I did go through about ~900g of the stuff though. Mixing a teaspoon of it with a glass of water first thing in the morning for roughly 5-6 months straight.
Currently upon waking I chug back a bunch of water and wait 30-60min before eating my first meal. Not sure if this helps (or does anything), but it seems to let the digestive system wake up.

PS. There’s a bunch of people (here, here a few posts down, and a Google search should bring up more) who say zinc, msm, and glutamine have been effective for the as well. I’ve got both other supplements as well, but barely them since I couldn’t find too much medical stuff supporting their effectiveness.

Hi

Very informative texts. My husband has Seborrheic Dermatitis and he’s been on a ketogenic diet för a couple of years now, his symptoms doesn’t seem so bad, Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo keeps it at bay. And I think he’d rather exercise than give upp eggs, cream or butter. But he now has many different suggestions to consider if merely exercise won’t do the trick.

And I just wanted to share my knowledge regarding fasting. I am also on a ketogenic diet, and I have no problem fasting for 24 hours, drinking only water and eating som salt. One recommendation is to look into increasing the intake of saturated fats.

Thank you for sharing

Hi Jeannette,
Thanks for the info. Does your husband mainly get it in the scalp or the face as well? And what made you try out the ketogenic diet yourself?

For me the Ketogenic diet wasn’t really an optimal choice. At least that’s the way I felt. Definitely believe it has its benefits, but its quite a commitment.

Also I think due to the way Head and Shoulders work, it makes you dependent on its regular usage. So I decided to get away from it even though it worked well for the scalp. What helped was actually going against popular belief. Instead I opted for high moisturizing shampoo. There was an adjustment period with this, but in the end it looks like its paid off as my scalp seems to have normalized. Haven’t touched Head and Shoulders for over 8 months.

My knowledge on saturated fats has also expanded greatly during my research. My belief is inline with yours. Before I was trying to avoid them because of all the incorrect info you typically hear. Now I enjoy my oats, butter, and toast in the mornings :slight_smile:

Thanks again for reaching how. All the best.

Hi Guys ,

I only signup to this forum to share my experiences hoping it will help others.
I had seborrheic dermatitis for over 24 years. Dry, itchy, inflamed skin; scalp, chest, nose, eybrows etc.
I have tried all sorts over the years; shampoos, creams, moisturizers, finishing with steroids which was the only thing that worked for me (temporarily) .
Few months ago my doctor advised I should take small aspirin (100mg) daily for all sorts of benefits ranging from hart, circulation, anti stroke, and finally, as we all read in recent publications anti cancerous properties etc. (I am a 42 year old male).
Well, guess what, all symptoms disappeared in within first 2 months.
It has been 18 months now and not a sign of any dry or itchy skin anywhere on my body!
All those years of discomfort, all gone.
I hope it will work for you too. Good luck
Miras

Hi Miras,

Thank you for providing your experience. That is actually the first time I’ve heard of that approach. Seems extremely straightforward and simple. Wonder how the aspirin works though…

Have you been taking it daily for 18 months now? Are there any health implications of doing this?

Thanks again and look forward to any other details you may have.

Hi Miras

Yes seems a little too good to be true, a simple pill to banish this, I tried it but with a antihistamine as well but didn’t work, took them for a week or so, more feed back would be good

Mark

Hi,

basically i’m 17 now and ive suffered from seb derm at 13 or 14 years oid, i remember i was eating alot of yeast foods and using a ointmont cream on my face. it would literally go all from my face then 4 days later i will have a breakout… ive stopped eating yeast without cheating and now i dont have big breakouts but my face does sometimes bes red… ive tried honey, dead sea, everything but there is something triggering it to come back, ibe now got a rash on the right side of my beard which is an infection due to a hair follicule with bacteria etc… ive heard a cream called ‘emuvate’ or somwthing like that would get it rid of it any thoughts? i need helps asap

Hi Zakariyya,

Honestly, it’s hard for me to recommend anything since I have no medical training. However, take a look at this post. It outlined my complete experience. The comments have quite a bit of feedback as well. Additionally, here is a post that just talks about the specifics of the final approach I used.

As for yeast, it’s kind of yes and no for me. I thought there was a relation, but now I just think yeast heavy foods typically slow down digestion. So any type of gut issues are likely to be exaggerated as digestion is slowed. So, in essence I don’t really think it’s the yeast directly, but how it and the foods which typically contain it effect the overall digestion process. Currently I’m not watching out for it really.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any updates. best of luck!

Hope that helps.

Ive had SD for the past 8 months now. I kept trying to figure out what it was, thinking it was this or that. Went to the docs to many times, got anti biotics used steriod creams etc. Finally stopped drinking protein powder and it got so much better. Latter i realized it was still appearing on my skin, cut all diary out and its almost gone.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the update.
Yeah, it’s crazy how small changes can have such drastic impacts on it.
I’m actually slowly starting to bring dairy back now. However, I’m pacing just to make sure it doesn’t come back.

Thanks again and best of luck!

I’ve had seborrehic dermatitis for 20 years. Nothing dietary works and I have become immune to all the shampoos. The only thing that gets rid of my dermatitis is either living in a tropical climate or doing bikram yoga. It seems like sweating is key.

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for checking in!

Yeah sweating can benefit SD, this can be due to the fact that healthy sweat is rich in antimicrobial peptides. And these can in helping control the malassezia that is believed to be largely responsible for SD (source).

However, in some individuals sweat may be missing these peptides and as a result sweating may actually make it worse for these people as the sebaceous glands open up.

All the best.

I am a college student that got serborrheic dermititis and now it is haunting me. It has caused me numerous eat problems! Someone tell me the best way to treat it. I have it on my ears and the back of my head. Please help!!

Hi Karly,

This is what I’ve been doing for the past ~1.5 months:
My Seborrheic Dermatitis Skin Regimen 2.0

Previous to this, the following regimen was helpful for about a year:
My Seborrheic Dermatitis Skin Regimen

Alternatively, I’ve attempted to summarize everything I’ve tried in the past here:
Overview of Seborrheic Dermatitis Face Treatments

It’s definitely possible to make it go away.
Hope that helps. Best of luck!