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Seborrhoeic dermatitis - Management
What maintenance treatment is recommended?
- If relapse is a problem, advise use of an antifungal shampoo once a week, or once every other week, or according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Topical corticosteroids are not appropriate for continuous long-term use, and their use as maintenance treatment is not recommended.
Basis for recommendation
- A patient information leaflet from the British Association of Dermatologists recommends using antifungal shampoos once a week to prevent the rash coming back [BAD, 2004].
- CKS could find no systematic reviews of measures to prevent recurrence of seborrhoeic dermatitis. Evidence from a double-blind, placebo controlled trial supports the use of ketoconazole 2% shampoo once weekly to prevent seborrhoeic dermatitis of the scalp [Peter and Richarz-Barthauer, 1995].
- Continuous long-term use of topical steroids increases the risk of local and systemic adverse reactions [ABPI Medicines Compendium, 2005; ABPI Medicines Compendium, 2007; ABPI Medicines Compendium, 2008a], and in the absence of supporting evidence, their use is not recommended.
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