Real cause of seborrhea discovered!

[Artist]

This may be great news for us. Apparently, scientists had mis-identified the cause of "dandruff" or seborrhea. The real cause is a fungus called Malassezia Globosa. According to this company, Pyrithione Zinc (PTZ) is effective against it. This may explain why zinc oxide has been helpful for our skin. Maybe it's helping the seborrheic dermatitis. It's not as effective as PTZ would be, but it would help a bit.

"Pyrithione Zinc (PTZ) is a potent monographed anti-fungal agent against M. globosa. It treats seborrheic dermatitis/dandruff and provides symptomatic relief, reducing the irritation response while inhibiting the causal agent.4 The particles that comprise this anti-fungal can be engineered into flat platelet shapes to deliver optimized scalp coverage resulting in improved efficacy."

Proctor and Gamble labs did the work. The above quote is from their site: http://www.pgbeautyscience.com/what-works.html

The Proctor and Gamble study abstract/info is below.

If you read further about it, you find that this particular yeast did not culture out well, so that's why it eluded scientists. This yeast eats our sebum and, as it breaks down the sebum, it releases oleic acid. Oleic acid is extremely irritating to skin, and I'd venture to say it may play a big role in rosacea.

I definitely think this is worth looking further into. How exciting!! OTC preparations against this newly discovered yeast must be right around the corner.
Artist


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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1800 ... d_RVDocSum

Dawson TL Jr.

The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio 45252, USA. dawson.tl@pg.com

Dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis (D/SD) share an etiology dependent upon three factors: sebum, microbial metabolism (specifically, Malassezia yeasts), and individual susceptibility. Advances in microbiological and analytical techniques permit a more detailed understanding of these etiologic factors, especially the role of Malassezia. Malassezia are lipid-dependent and demonstrate adaptation allowing them to exploit a narrow niche on sebum-rich skin. Work in our and our collaborators' laboratories has focused on understanding these adaptations by detailed analysis of biochemistry and gene expression. We have shown that Malassezia globosa and M. restricta predominate on dandruff scalp, that oleic acid alone can initiate dandruff-like desquamation, that M. globosa is the most likely initiating organism by virtue of its high lipase activity, and that an M. globosa lipase is expressed on human scalp. Considering the importance of M. globosa in D/SD (and the overall importance of commensal fungi), we have sequenced the M. globosa and M. restricta genomes. Genomic analysis indicates key adaptations to the skin environment, several of which yield important clues to the role Malassezia play in human disease. This work offers the promise of defining new treatments to D/SD that are targeted at changing the level or activities of Malassezia genes.

[Quiller]

Sweet... I've used Head & Shoulders (pyrithicone zinc) on my seb derm before, it seems to work.

[Artist]

Here is a sensitive skin cleanser by Dermadoctor made for sensitive skin with PTZ

http://www.dermadoctor.com/product.asp? ... &AID=15750

This part caught my eye:

"Even Bigger Dermatologist’s Secret: 2% pyrithione zinc containing dandruff shampoos are frequently used by dermatologists as an “off label” (not officially FDA approved use) treatment for helping control other conditions such as acne rosacea, tinea versicolor, perioral dermatitits, psoriasis and eczema. If your doctor has made this treatment recommendation, ask him/her if substituting DERMAdoctor Born To Be Mild Medicated Cleanser is right for you. "

The reviews are great. I might give this cleanser a try. It's mild, but I tend to react to preservatives, so we'll see.

Cheers!

Artist

[Artist]

Some more info: http://www.pgbeautyscience.com/dandruff ... highlight1

Artist

[phlika29]

Okay this is fantastic news.

Artist would you mind if I put up a link to this thread in the rosacea forum. I'm sure there will be quite a few who would be really interested in this news.

Sarah

[Artist]

Sarah: Yes please! Jack is sick so I haven't had time to post on the other boards about it. Cheers! Artist

[Dan]

Hi Artist,

Gosh, there are years of research on Malassezia Yeasts and Seborrhea. Here's some more info:

http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v116/n5/full/5601066a.html

[Quiller]

The original reason I tried topical sodium bicarbonate was that I figured I had fungus all over my face. I'm glad I tried it - it has completely controlled my rosacea for the past week.

[Aurelia]

Good find, Artist! You certainly have been busy. (I hope Jack is feeling better now.)

BTW We are always very happy for anyone to put up links to any of our threads that they consider interesting. I'm sure no one ever needs to ask.

Kind regards,

Aurelia

[Artist]

Dan, Yes - from what I understand they indentified the wrong one. They now know the exact species and can better target it. Cheers! -Artist