Is dandruff dangerous?
Is dandruff hazardous to health?
No, dandruff does not pose any threat to health.
Dandruff is nothing more than skin which sheds from your scalp. When your old skin cells die, new skin cells replace the dead ones, and the body sheds the old cells. (1) The skin of your hands, arms, feet, legs, thighs, face, and torso is constantly being shed and replaced with new skin. Similarly, the skin of your scalp sheds.
Then why do some people have dandruff and others don’t?
If it is normal that the scalp sheds dead skin, then why do some people have dandruff while others don’t? After all, everyones scalp sheds dead skin.
Pityrosporum ovale, also known as malassezia, is a fungus which inhabits everyones scalp. When this fungus increases in number, it causes an allergic reaction. As a result of the allergic reaction, the scalp sheds more skin than it would under normal conditions. The dead skin cells clump together and appear as flakes of dandruff. (2,3,4)
Dandruff poses no health hazard since it is nothing more than dead skin cells which have clumped together.
Source(s):
- Dandruf, Cool Nurse, 2007, retrieved 9 February 2007.
- ibid.
- Dandruff, Mayo Clinic, 2006, retrieved 9 February 2007.
- All About Dandruff, McNeil Products Ltd, 2005, retrieved 9 February 2007.