Baby Scalp Eczema
About
This condition is also known as cradle cap or infantile seborrhoeic dermatitis. The first signs are usually shown in the first three months of the baby. It is manifested through greasy, yellow skin rash that affects the scalp of the infants, skin area around ears and eyes can be easily affected as well.
When appeared on the other parts of the body it is just called seborrhoeic dermatitis.
Severe cradle cap is extremely rare, so in most of the cases baby does not have itchy feeling and it is not irritating. Older children are not prone to it.
Cause
There are two most common theories about the cause fungal infection, which is considered as the main cause for the other eczema as well and the hyper activity of the sebaceous glands on the baby’s scalp. Infection is usually not caused by bad scalp hygiene or allergies, but is rather a side effect of mother’s treatment with antibiotics short period of time before infant’s birth. Down side of the antibiotics is that they destroy good bacteria as well, leaving the skin of the too young child incapable to fight against malicious microorganisms.
Other known causes are lack of biotin and presence of mother’s hormones in newborn’s circulatory system.
Treatment
Except for the severe condition, which is extremely rare, baby scalp eczema can be treated in several ways. Natural home remedies are of course considered as the safest cures and generally there should not be any concern about their side effects when using them. However, effectiveness of that kind of treatment might not always be satisfying, in those cases dermatologists recommend daily use of miconozal nitrate and clotrim for one to two weeks. As this condition is mostly caused by the fungus infection, use of any antifungal cream would reduce symptoms but that kind of treatment should be previously discussed with skin specialist.
Patients with severe symptoms must be treated by medical professionals as open bleeding wounds are ideal place for bacteria to grow what leads very fast to infections and condition worsening.
Neonatal seborrhoeic dermatitis almost always disappears after few weeks of treatment, but the results of studies show that about 10 percent of children diagnosed cradle cap had some kind of eczema ten years later.
