Effectiveness of Home-use Light Emitting Diode Device for Seborrheic Dermatitis of the Scalp: a Preliminary Study

Kim, Seung Myun; Lee, Seung Chul; Won, Young Ho; Lee, Jee Bum

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory disease, mainly affecting the scalp and face. The pathogenesis of SD has been not fully understood yet, but may be related to the skin colonization of Malassezia species, lipophilic yeasts. Phototherapy with light emitting diode (LED) device has been become a new therapeutic modality for some skin diseases such as acne.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate effectiveness and safety of phototherapy with home-use LED in the treatment of patients with SD of the scalp.
METHODS
Eight patients with mild-to-moderate SD of the scalp participated. The patients used a home-use LED device combined 395 nm blue light with 660 nm red light for 6~7 min twice daily for 8 weeks. Patients' assessments were made by clinical findings including erythema (0~15), scales (0~15), itching (0~10), and lesional extent (0~15). And clinical photographs were taken at 0, 2, 4 and 8 weeks, respectively.
RESULTS
At 8 weeks after LED treatment, erythema (7.75 to 5.13, p=0.018), scales (7.38 to 4.13, p=0.017), itching (6 to 3, p=0.011) and lesional extent (8.25 to 5.25, p=0.017) were significantly decreased, respectively. Satisfactory scores were also relatively high (mean 8.13 of 10). No severe adverse reaction was reported, excepting hair dryness (n=1) and brief stinging sense (n=1).
CONCLUSION
Home-use LED was effective and safe in the treatment of SD of the scalp. These results suggest the LED device might be an adjuvant therapeutic tool in the treatment of Malassezia species associated diseases such as dandruff and SD. Further long-term and large-scale studies are required to assess the efficacy and safety of home-use LED.