Betacap Scalp Application for Seborrhoeic Dermatitis

Betacap Scalp Application costs £12.99 for one 100ml bottle, £23.99 for two and £29.99 for three. Every price includes your online consultation and prescription, with no separate consultation fee. Betacap is only supplied if our prescriber decides it is suitable for you.

No. Betacap is a prescription-only medicine in the UK, so it cannot be bought over the counter, even from a pharmacy. You need a prescription from a GP or a prescriber, such as through an online consultation. For mild dandruff, ketoconazole shampoo can be bought from a pharmacy, and coal tar or salicylic acid shampoos are widely available without a prescription.

Prescription-only medicines can only be supplied by a registered pharmacy against a valid prescription, so Betacap listed on Amazon or eBay is not a legitimate UK supply. High street pharmacies such as Boots can dispense Betacap only with a prescription. You can get a prescription from your GP or through an online consultation with a registered UK pharmacy such as Access Doctor. If you already have a paper prescription, any pharmacy can dispense it.

Betacap is used to treat inflammatory scalp conditions, mainly scalp psoriasis and seborrhoeic dermatitis, when milder steroids have not worked. It contains betamethasone valerate 0.1%, a potent steroid that reduces redness, itching and scaling.

Betacap and Betnovate Scalp Application contain the same active ingredient at the same strength, betamethasone valerate 0.1%, so they are both potent steroids that work in the same way. They are made by different companies and have slightly different bases: Betacap also contains an emollient derived from coconut oil to reduce the drying effect of the alcohol. Your prescriber can advise which suits you.

No. Although it is used on the scalp, Betacap is a liquid that you apply to the affected skin and leave on, not a shampoo that you rinse out. You can keep washing your hair with your usual or medicated shampoo, applying Betacap once your hair is dry.

Make sure your hair is dry. Part your hair, then turn the bottle upside down and squeeze a thin layer onto the affected scalp using the nozzle. Massage it in gently. Let it dry naturally without a hairdryer, and keep away from flames and cigarettes, as it is highly flammable. Wash your hands afterwards and keep it away from your eyes.

Apply it twice a day until your scalp improves, then reduce to once a day or less, using the smallest amount needed. Your prescriber will usually review your treatment after up to 4 weeks, in line with NICE guidance. Avoid using it continuously for weeks or months on end, and speak to your prescriber if your scalp has not improved.

How quickly Betacap works varies from person to person, and thick scale can slow it down. If your scalp has not improved after up to 4 weeks, see your prescriber or GP rather than continuing, as you may need a different treatment. We do not publish before-and-after photos, as results vary.

Betacap is usually well tolerated. Possible side effects include skin irritation and, with long or heavy use, thinning of the skin. Steroids can also trigger a form of psoriasis with pus-filled spots, affect the body's own steroid hormones, or cause blurred vision. Withdrawal reactions can also occur after stopping. Stop using it and speak to your prescriber if you notice any of these.

Hair loss is not a listed side effect of Betacap. Scalp psoriasis itself can cause temporary hair shedding, especially when thick scale is removed, and hair usually grows back once the inflammation settles. Speak to your prescriber or GP if you notice significant or patchy hair loss.

No. Betacap is not a hair growth treatment and is not licensed for hair loss. By calming scalp inflammation it may reduce shedding caused by psoriasis, but it does not regrow hair. If you are losing hair, see a GP to find the cause.

Do not use Betacap if your scalp has a bacterial, fungal or viral infection, or if you are allergic to betamethasone or any of its ingredients. It should not be used in children under 1 year, and Access Doctor supplies it to adults only. It is for the scalp only, not the face or other areas. You should not normally use it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding unless your doctor or prescriber advises it.

Yes. Your GP can prescribe Betacap or a similar steroid scalp treatment if it is suitable for you. NHS prescription charges apply in England unless you are exempt, while prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can also get it privately through an online consultation with a UK-registered pharmacy.

No. Betacap is classified as a prescription-only medicine (POM) in the UK and cannot be bought over the counter anywhere, including from a pharmacy counter.

There are two clinical reasons for that. Betamethasone valerate is a potent corticosteroid, and used for too long or over too wide an area it can thin the skin and, rarely, suppress the body's own steroid production. And it must not be applied to a scalp with a bacterial, fungal or viral infection — a steroid will damp down the immune response and let the infection spread. Telling those conditions apart from psoriasis or seborrhoeic dermatitis is exactly what the prescriber check is for.

What you can buy without a prescription:

Ketoconazole 2% shampoo, for dandruff and seborrhoeic dermatitis driven by yeast.

Coal tar preparations, which slow the excess skin cell turnover behind psoriasis scale.

Salicylic acid preparations, which soften and lift thick scale so other treatments can reach the skin.

These are the sensible first step for mild dandruff. If you have tried them for a few weeks without much change, or your scalp is genuinely inflamed rather than just flaky, that is the point at which a prescription treatment becomes appropriate.

People search for before-and-after photographs of Betacap. We do not publish patient images — they are not a reliable guide to what any individual scalp will do — but here is the timeline most people describe.

First 2–3 days. Itching and burning ease. This is usually the first thing people notice, and it happens before the scalp looks any different.

Week 1. Redness starts to fade and the scale begins to loosen. Applied morning and evening at this stage.

Weeks 2–3. Plaques flatten and shedding of flakes reduces noticeably. Most people step down to once daily here.

Week 4. Review point. A scalp that has cleared should come off treatment with a break before any further course; a scalp that has not changed needs a different approach rather than more of the same.

Potent topical corticosteroids are what NICE recommends first for scalp psoriasis (CG153), so the evidence behind this class of treatment is well established. What varies is thickness of scale, how much scalp is involved and how consistently the solution is applied — thick, adherent scale often needs a descaling preparation first, because a steroid cannot work through a layer it cannot penetrate.

We only publish reviews from verified patients who have completed a consultation and received this treatment, so this page fills up more slowly than a general retailer's. If you have used Betacap through Access Doctor, we would like to hear how you got on.