If you can see past your hair, you may notice that the skin has become yellow, greasy and thickened. Seborrheic dermatitis has the same symptoms as contact dermatitis.
Your skin becomes red and sensitive and begins to flake. In the worst cases, you can develop blisters. Since it is in some way related to sweat glands and hair follicles, seborrheic dermatitis typically occurs where there are many pores in the body. One such place is the scalp.
This form of dermatitis is not contagious. That being said, you may find that a number of the members of your household experience it at the same time.
This is because you may all be experiencing the same trigger, such as a kind of shampoo, or washing powder.
The giveaway to look for is dandruff. You need to use a specific seborrheic dermatitis shampoo if you have colored hair. These are classic signs of seborrheic dermatitis. All forms of dermatitis, this one included, make the affected area sensitive. This could, therefore, be the cause of your sore spot. Like other forms of dermatitis, you should treat your condition with topical creams and oral medication.
Another disorder of the skin that can cause scalp and head pain is scalp psoriasis. Psoriasis is a condition which, like dermatitis, can affect any part of the body.
Its cause is unknown, and there is no complete cure , although you can choose from many treatment options. Psoriasis could, therefore, be causing your spot on head painful to touch. It typically occurs around the hairline, either at the front or back.
Psoriasis appears similar to dermatitis. It is diagnosed using the following symptoms:. Like dermatitis, psoriasis is treated using topical creams and ointments.
Scalp ringworm is the last potential cause of your tender spot on our list. Ringworm is therefore contagious, unlike the conditions mentioned above. It can occur anywhere on the body, including the scalp. When ringworm occurs on the scalp, its scientific name is tinea capitis. Like other skin conditions, ringworm causes flaky, itchy skin. But it can also cause hair loss, which can be disconcerting. This hair loss can be permanent after an extended period of infection.
When it occurs on your scalp, ringworm can give you painful sores. These sores are large and obvious and look almost like small calluses. Specifically, these sores are abscesses caused by the fungal infection of ringworm. They gradually fill with pus and can grow to an inch or more in size.
As you can imagine, this can be quite painful indeed. Sometimes, pus can be squeezed out from these skin lesions. Fungal infections of the scalp, such as tinea capitis and tinea versicolor , are most common in children and can cause hair loss.
What may look like flakes of dandruff could be lice. Lice is highly contagious and can live up to 30 days on your scalp or body. Lice eggs can live even longer.
A tension headache can also cause scalp pain. Stress , depression , or anxiety can cause or worsen your symptoms, making muscles tense. The temporal artery is a blood vessel that runs on the side of your head in front of your ear. Temporal arteritis is a condition in which the temporal artery becomes inflamed and very tender to touch. Symptoms associated with this condition include jaw pain , headaches , and visual disturbances.
Temporal arteritis most often affects older adults. This is especially true of those with a condition called polymyalgia rheumatica. This pain can also be worsened or triggered by hair loss. For women, hormones associated with the menstrual cycle may also contribute to scalp pain. Those with naturally greasy or dry scalp are more prone to scalp pain and may even experience sensitive skin in other areas. You may also be more likely to experience symptoms if you:. Treatments vary depending on the cause or symptom.
Change your shampoo, rinse your hair more carefully, and brush your hair gently. Ibuprofen or similar over-the-counter medication may help relieve inflammation or headaches that cause sensitivity. If not treated, there is the risk of an abscess enlarging, spreading, and causing serious illness. A small abscess may heal on its own, through the body's immune system. But some will need to be drained or lanced in a medical provider's office so that the pus can be cleaned out.
Antibiotics are usually prescribed. Keeping the skin clean, and using only clean clothes and towels, will help to make sure that the abscess does not recur. A skin abscess is an infection of the deeper skin that's typically due to bacteria seen on the skin. Recently, infections are more frequently caused by Staph. Aureus puts the "staph" in "staph infections". If the infection begins to spread, urgent treatment is required. Top Symptoms: fatigue, fever, painful neck lump, marble-size neck lump, pink or red neck bump.
Symptoms that always occur with severe skin abscess: pink or red neck bump, red bump. Pimples are also called comedones, spots, blemishes, or "zits. Pimples often first start appearing at puberty, when hormones increase the production of oil in the skin and sometimes clog the pores. Symptoms include blocked pores that may appear flat and black on the surface, because the oil darkens when exposed to the air; blocked pores that appear white on the surface because they have closed over with dead skin cells; or swollen, yellow-white, pus-filled blisters surrounded by reddened skin.
Outbreaks of pimples on the skin can interfere with quality of life, making the person self-conscious about their appearance and causing pain and discomfort in the skin. A medical provider can help to manage the condition, sometimes through referral to a dermatologist. Treatment involves improving diet; keeping the skin, hair, washcloths, and towels very clean; and using over-the-counter acne remedies.
Top Symptoms: pink or red facial bump, small facial lump, painful facial bump, marble sized facial lump. If your scalp pain persists despite the remedies above or you have experienced any trauma to the scalp, make an appointment with your doctor. Depending on the cause of your pain, your doctor may suggest:. Seek medical attention immediately if you experience sudden onset scalp pain accompanied by fever or visual symptoms. These could be signs of temporal arteritis which must be treated quickly.
Hormonal changes during pregnancy cause dermatological changes to the scalp, ranging from dry, itchy skin to greasy, acne-prone skin.
These changes can lead to new development or worsening of existing skin conditions like eczema or seborrheic dermatitis, which can cause you to have a tender scalp. Furthermore, headaches and migraines can contribute to scalp pain. The base of each of your hair follicles contain sensory nerve fibers.
Bending the hair stimulates these nerve endings, allowing you to feel that your hair has been moved. Putting up your hair into a ponytail stimulates the nerve fibers. The tighter or heavier your ponytail, the more pressure that is placed on the nerve fibers, which will transmit signals to your brain that will be interpreted as a painful and uncomfortable sensation.
Burning scalp pain can occur for a variety of reasons. The pain may be stemming from inflammatory skin conditions such as dandruff, fungal infection, psoriasis, or eczema. The pain may also be secondary to an underlying neurological dysfunction, most likely either temporal arteritis or trigeminal neuralgia. Electric-like pain is a particularly specific sign of possible inflammation or compression of nerves in the vicinity of the pain.
Yes, the scalp can undergo sun damage. Although men and women with significant hair loss are more prone to sun damage, having hair will not completely protect you against sunburn.
Just like the rest of the skin, UV rays can still reach the scalp after one spends an extended amount of time out in the sun. The scalp can be itchy for numerous reasons. The most common reason is dandruff, which occurs when your body undergoes an inflammatory response due to an overgrowth of yeast on the scalp, causing itching and flaking. Other common causes include psoriasis an autoimmune disease , tinea capitis a fungal infection known as ringworm , head lice , and reactions to foreign chemicals such as new hair dyes or anything coming into contact with the scalp.
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Solutions Chevron Icon. Care Navigation. Sections Icon. Buoy Chat Icon. Symptom Checker. Verified By Experts Icon. Verified by experts 10 min read. No Ads. Claudia Gambrah-Lyles, MD. Resident at Children Hospital of Philadelphia. Jeffrey M. Last updated March 19,
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