Why Does Oily Skin Also Flake? | Incheon Seborrheic Dermatitis

Greetings from Baengnokdam Korean Medicine Clinic.

You constantly use oil blotting papers, yet white dead skin cells appear on your skin. Something accumulates on your scalp that isn't dandruff, and the sides of your nose, eyebrows, and forehead turn red and itchy every afternoon. It's a vicious cycle of oil, dead skin cells, and inflammation.

“My face is so shiny, I thought I had oily skin, but my makeup flakes off because of all the dead skin cells. I'm so self-conscious about looking messy to others.”

Seborrheic dermatitis is not merely a problem of excessive sebum. It's a complex skin condition where oil and dead skin cells paradoxically coexist, leading to reddened, sensitive skin and even a loss of confidence.

Causes and Symptoms

My Sebum Becomes 'Food' for Inflammation

Everyone's skin naturally hosts a fungus called ‘Malassezia’. Normally, it doesn't cause any issues. But what happens if stress or poor lifestyle habits lead to a malfunction in our body's sebum secretion system?

As sebum is excessively secreted, a lavish ‘buffet’ is laid out for this fungus. The fungus, feeding on the sebum and proliferating excessively, then releases metabolic byproducts that irritate the skin. Our body's immune system perceives this as an ‘attack,’ triggering ‘inflammation’ in the affected area.

This inflammatory response is precisely what makes the skin red, abnormally shortens the skin cell regeneration cycle, and results in the formation of white dead skin cells.

Korean Medicine Perspective

Why 'Heat' Concentrates Only on the Face and Head

In Korean medicine, we view the human body as a ‘natural ecosystem’. Seborrheic dermatitis is diagnosed as a state where the balance of this ecosystem is disrupted, specifically leading to a ‘tropical rainforest climate’ in the head and face – the ‘upper body’ – characterized by excessive rain (dampness 濕) and excessively high temperatures (heat 熱).

This ‘hot and damp environment (damp-heat 濕熱)’ promotes sebum secretion and creates optimal conditions for inflammation to thrive. Such ‘damp-heat in the upper body’ primarily results from digestive dysfunction or stagnation of systemic circulation caused by excessive stress.

Clear energy should ascend and turbid energy should descend, but this natural order has been disrupted. Therefore, Korean medicine treatment focuses not merely on removing sebum from the skin, but on ‘cooling the heat concentrated in the upper body and drying out the dampness (Clearing Heat and Drying Dampness 淸熱燥濕),’ thereby correcting the body's overall circulation to restore the healthy balance of the ecosystem.

Lifestyle Management

3 Habits to Manage 'Oil and Heat'

In daily life, it is most important to manage factors that stimulate unnecessary heat and sebum secretion.

• Habit 1: Diet Reform
  Oily, spicy, and sweet foods, as well as alcohol, are major culprits that promote inflammatory responses and stimulate the sebaceous glands. It is essential to manage the ‘heat’ in your body with a bland, easy-to-digest diet.
• Habit 2: Proper Cleansing
  Excessive cleansing can actually damage the skin barrier and worsen the condition. It is recommended to gently cleanse twice a day with a mild, weakly acidic cleanser to remove excess sebum.
• Habit 3: Stress Control
  Stress disrupts our body's hormonal system, increasing sebum secretion. Ensuring sufficient sleep for your body to recover and finding your own relaxation methods to cool the heat in your mind is also the path to cooling the heat in your skin.

Prognosis and Golden Time

Before the 'Embers on Your Face' Spread to 'Hair Loss'

Seborrheic dermatitis is often dismissed as a simple pimple or dandruff and left untreated. However, if the chronic inflammatory embers that begin on the scalp are not extinguished, they can damage hair follicles and roots, potentially escalating into a more significant problem known as ‘seborrheic alopecia’.

Furthermore, recurrent inflammation on the face can permanently damage the skin barrier and lead to persistently red and sensitive skin. Addressing these small embers on your skin now goes beyond merely eliminating dead skin cells and redness; it is the most crucial golden time to prevent future hair loss and protect a healthy skin barrier.

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