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Putting It All Together to Understand the Role of Malassezia spp. in Dandruff Etiology

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Abstract

Dandruff is a common scalp condition causing both a discomfort and an undesired social image. Various studies dating from early 1900s have investigated the condition, but understanding of underlying mechanisms and etiology of the condition is still in its infancy. Formation of dandruff is a common but complex event which has been associated with numerous causal factors. Physiological conditions such as pH, water content, or sebum secretion are some of the host-related factors. An imbalance between these factors can disturb the physiological equilibrium of the scalp that can lead to dandruff formation. However, severity of the condition is strongly related to the lipophilic yeast of the skin microbiota, Malassezia spp. On the other hand, there are recent publications highlighting the role of other scalp microbiota members on dandruff formation. This review investigates the processes leading to the formation of dandruff to provide an etiological description of the condition, with a focus on Malassezia spp.

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(Reprinted with permission from Turner et al. [7])

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  1. Yönter Meray and Duygu Gençalp have contributed equally to this paper.

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  1. Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Northern Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey

    Yönter Meray, Duygu Gençalp & Mümtaz Güran

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  1. Yönter Meray
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YM and DG have contributed in acquisition of data and drafting the manuscript. MG have conceived the presented idea and contributed in drafting and finalising the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mümtaz Güran.

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Meray, Y., Gençalp, D. & Güran, M. Putting It All Together to Understand the Role of Malassezia spp. in Dandruff Etiology. Mycopathologia 183, 893–903 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-018-0283-4

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