MBH Syndrome

November 10, 2005 10:06 PM

Male Blotchy Forehead Syndrome: what is it?

I was perusing some photos of a recent social gathering of people in the 30 to 60 age bracket, and noticed that many of the men - perhaps over 50% - had what can only be described as a Blotchy Forehead: red patches, often a bit spotty, maybe scaley too. Few of these fellows had long, lanky, greasy hair flopping over their brows - on the contrary in fact. I could post a couple of photos, if I had somewhere to post them to.

posted by TiredStarling to health & fitness (11 comments total)

hats?
posted by freudianslipper at 10:14 PM on November 10, 2005

>>hats?

While there was a deficit of hair at said gathering, it must be noted that no-one felt it necessary to hide the fact (unlike Maurice Gibb and Dwight Yoakum) with a hat.
posted by TiredStarling at 10:26 PM on November 10, 2005

If these were caucasian men, you are probably seeing Rosacea.
posted by planetkyoto at 10:58 PM on November 10, 2005

It's also possible that the women's skin looks just as bad, but the blotches are covered by makeup.
posted by clarahamster at 11:37 PM on November 10, 2005

Could be seborehic dermititis
posted by jeblis at 11:52 PM on November 10, 2005

for posting photos, try photobucket, imageshack etc.
posted by jeblis at 11:54 PM on November 10, 2005

I haven't run into anything bad using tinypic which hands various different html/ish code to you on a platter.

I'm curious - are these men otherwise well groomed?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:37 AM on November 11, 2005

I second the Seborrheic dermatitis, especially as it is most commonly seen on the forehead. Also it is worse for those who work in dry, heated office-like enviornments.
posted by Wilder at 6:38 AM on November 11, 2005

I third seborrheic dermatitis. The clues:
&nbsp 1. Age of the "victims;" seb derm tend to start showing up in the 30s, with the change in hormones associated with aging;
&nbsp 2. Red + scales, is symptomatic of the eczema that is closely associated with seb derm; this can be alleviated with an OTC cortizone or high-powered stuff like Protopic.
&nbsp 3. I don't quite get the greasy hair comment. Regardless, seb derm tends to be associated with facial hair. "Victims" will also tend to have more/worse dandruff as their hair gets longer.
&nbsp In addition to the hormone changes, other causes can be fungal. Washing hair and face with Neutrogena T-gel or Nizoral shampoos can alleviate the symptoms. Best results if alternate every couple of weeks as the fun-guys adapt to the poisons you're scrubbing on them.
posted by GarageWine at 9:13 AM on November 11, 2005

Just post the pics. Dermatologic diagnosis is hard enough when you can see what you're talking about.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:50 AM on November 11, 2005

eczema?
posted by brandz at 7:15 PM on November 11, 2005