Also called: Seborrhea · Seborrheic Dermatitis
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Dandruff, Cradle Cap, and Other Scalp Conditions
Your scalp is the skin on the top of your head. Unless you have hair loss, hair grows on your scalp. Different skin problems can affect your scalp.
Dandruff is a flaking of the skin. The flakes are yellow or white. Dandruff may make your scalp feel itchy. It usually starts after puberty, and is more common in men. Dandruff is usually a symptom of seborrheic dermatitis, or seborrhea. It is a skin condition that can also cause redness and irritation of the skin.
Most of the time, using a dandruff shampoo can help control your dandruff. If that does not work, contact your health care provider.
There is a type of seborrheic dermatitis that babies can get. It is called cradle cap. It usually lasts a few months, and then goes away on its own. Besides the scalp, it can sometimes affect other parts of the body, such as the eyelids, armpits, groin, and ears. Normally, washing your baby's hair every day with a mild shampoo and gently rubbing their scalp with your fingers or a soft brush can help. For severe cases, your health care provider may give you a prescription shampoo or cream to use.
Other problems that can affect the scalp include:
- Scalp ringworm, a fungal infection that causes itchy, red patches on your head. It can also leave bald spots. It usually affects children.
- Scalp psoriasis, which causes itchy or sore patches of thick, red skin with silvery scales. About half of the people with psoriasis have it on their scalp.
It sits within Skin, Hair and Nails.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Cradle Cap (Seborrheic Dermatitis) in InfantsNemours Foundation
- DandruffVisualDX
Symptoms
- Dandruff: Symptoms and CausesMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Seborrheic Dermatitis: Signs and SymptomsAmerican Academy of Dermatology
Treatments and Therapies
- Cradle Cap: TreatmentMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Dandruff: Diagnosis and TreatmentMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Tea Tree OilNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Dermatitis, SeborrheicNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Scalp Dermatoses, Dermatitis, Seborrheic, Dandruff. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Dandruff, Cradle Cap, and Other Scalp Conditions, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.