RESEARCH STUDY

Anti-inflammatory creams for seborrheic dermatitis (Cochrane, 2014)

2014
Meta-analysis
2706
High

One-line finding

Topical steroids, and to some extent calcineurin inhibitors and lithium, reduce seborrheic dermatitis symptoms short-term.

Plain-language summary

This review combined 36 randomized trials with 2,706 people to test anti-inflammatory creams. Topical steroids cleared symptoms better than a dummy treatment in the short term and worked about as well as antifungal azoles. Steroid-free calcineurin inhibitors and lithium salts also helped. Steroids caused fewer side effects than calcineurin inhibitors. Trials were short, so long-term safety is still unclear.

Citation

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