Fungus and the Scalp

Fungus and the Scalp

Malassezia is a type of fungus most commonly associated with seborrhoeic dermatitis of the scalp. Malassezia likes to feed off the oily sebum produced by sebaceous glands in the dermal layer of the scalp. This causes further irritation, inflammation and red, itchy patches of flaking skin. It’s a vicious cycles as the sebaceous glands then attempt to produce more sebum to protect itself, which the Malassezia continues to feed off of. Itching and redness occurs as the blood capillaries in the dermal layer are trying so hard to increase the immune response and create more cells in the epidermal layer for protection; resulting in the rapid rate of cell-turnover and large flakes of dead skin cells accumulating on the outermost layer of the scalp.

Manuka Honey used in the Hope’s Relief formula has the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) 10+, which is a hospital grade, medical honey used in cleaning wounds and treating bacterial or fungal infections such as Malassezia. Manuka Honey penetrates through to the dermal layer of skin and assists in anti-inflammatory, wound healing and anti-microbial activities; as well as having a debriding effect, meaning it cleans the wound and allows for toxins or other contaminants to rise to the surface to be easily cleared out.  This is particularly effective in cleaning scalps which are wounded from over-scratching.