Keratosis Pilaris

[Bomber]

Otherwise known as those red goosepimply things some people get on their upper arms.

I know it can't actually be treated/completely got rid of, but is there any way of reducing it? Exfoliating just seems to aggravate the redness. I tried Herbalism and it reduced the redness but only for a short while.

Any tips?

[fangbanger]

I think I've got this on the backs of my thighs....

Exfoliating does help, well it makes me feel like theres something that can be done, rather than just feeling like I'm stuck with these horrible scabby lumps.

I've been known to take tweezers to the lumps coz they get itchy!

I use E45 and that relieves the itchiness but I haven't noticed it getting better or worse over the years.

If theres a cure; I WANT IN!

[guest123]

*deleted*

[~Azaezl~]

No cure as far as I know but I've had it since I hit puberty and looking at my daughter's arms she has a few bumps but they are skin coloured so you can't notice them so poor thing is probably going to get it bad like me when she hits puberty.

Anyway they say as you get older it gets better, mine certainly has, when I was 16 the bumps were really red, raised and itchy wheras now that I'm 26(nearly 27) they just look like hundreds of tiny marks with a few red bumps and my arm feels more or less smooth so I think the marks are scars from scratching the bumps when I was younger.

[tazzyface]

My derm recommended a cream with lactic acid like Lanate. It hasn't helped me, but nothing does anything for my skin Apparently Accutane helps, I sure hope it does as I'll be going on it in about a month.

[Bomber]

I have a terrible habit of squeezing the pimples as well, so I've got loads of tiny scars dotted about on my arms. Attractive, yes?

I'll have a look at a gentler exfoliator then, mine may have been too harsh

[Ice_Pick_Abortions]

Ha I squeeze them too, I can't leave stuff like that alone.

Anyways, I found that exfoliating religiously did help a lot. I used the Lush Sugar Scrubs and recently I've been using their Buffy bar instead and it's doing the job too.

[Lilinth]

i have a really bad case of this, and as such avoid wearing sleeveless/short sleeved tops religiously
since i swapped to using the sanex dermo sensitive shower gel though i find the redness has diminished quite a bit, and i suppose every little helps

[Velvet_Volcano]

I've had KP for as long as I can remember... it has got progressively worse and is so itchy I'm going mad...my scalp is terrible too.
From lots of research I came across the possible cause of some KP as the demodex parasite.
I am going to be using this guide soon, if anyone wants to know how it goes, I'll document my progress.
I have tried sea buckthorn body oil before and I noticed a difference, my skin was a lot smoother.. but I didnt use it everyday (because I was a bit lazy) but as shown in the guide, I perhaps needed to use it everyday and with some other sea buckthorn product.
http://www.keratosispilaris.org/treatme ... guide.html

I currently exfoliate with Lush - Buffy (I do mix it up between aqua mirabilis, you snap the whip and occasionally sugar scrub) and use Dream Cream, I did mix some tea tree oil with jojoba as well since apparently tea tree can kill the parasite and noticed a small difference also.
As I have dermatillomania I also pick/squeeze the bumps and have quite a few scars aswell as the bumps.

I think I might try oil pulling aswell to see if it makes any difference, apparently it makes your teeth whiter, so might as well give it a go if only for that .

[guest123]

*deleted*

[pinky]

i have it on my arms and tops of my thighs as well i've been making a rigged up homemade sugar scrub and it seems to tone it down a bit.

[Vex88]

I think i have this too.. upper arms and upper thighs..tried exfoliating etc, but didn't ever do it daily so it never made much difference.. thinking of getting tattoos in those areas so it may cause a problem, so i'll be trying methods to get rid of it I think.

[iamdolleyes]

oh i just noticed this!

i want to confirm sea buckthorn soap is pretty good for this..my SO has problems with this and my mom who is a soapmaker, makes a nice sea buckthorn soap for him.

you can buy sea buckthorn oil (the better quality one is the oil extracted from the pulp) and add it to cleanser or whatever at about a 15% concentration. sea buckthorn oil itself is VERY good for skin..and can also help with soreness from eczema and psoriasis...but its bright ORANGE and can stain, so its best to test and make sure it doesn't stain your skin (it doesn't tend to stain mine!) before either upping the concentration, or using it straight as a treatment for flare ups

if anyone wants i can supply some shop links. new directions aromatics in canada sells this, i can find a good american supplier if anyone needs as well!

[Pallidity]

Oh! I wish I had noticed this sooner xD

My sister and i both suffer from it. While there's a lot of debate on what causes it. The most info I've found and what I've been told by my dermatologist and gen doctor is that it is a bodies inability to properly process all of the keratin that is consumed and that this is genetic. My sister used a cream that seemed to help, though she wasn't very consistent with it. I wish I could remember the name of the cream *sigh* It was something that she had to have prescribed, not something that was bought in a store.

Also, from all of the research I've done and from what I've been told, I have decided to stop exfoliating them. A lot of the communities that addressed the issue said that, after exfoliation over a lengthy period (years) that they saw scarring and that while it made the area seem smoother for a while it did nothing to fix the problem long-term.

Some of the sites I read had other suggestions, such as using a cream like Eucerine, but I've been doing that for two years now and I haven't seen any change. Some of them also suggested that the consumption of chicken, orange veggies such as carrots and sweet potatoes, some dairy, etc (which are high in carotene and carotene speeds up a body's production of keratin) agitates the condition and cutting back on it improved some peoples conditions. I was incapable of of cutting back on any of them xD

If you are only mildly annoyed by the bumps and are fairly convinced that it's related to carotene consumption/keratin build up you might think about letting it be. There are some benefits from consuming more than average (several studies have found a link to better brain function in people that consume a lot of carotene) and the only major downside that I can remember finding is that if you're a smoker you'd be more likely to get lung cancer. You can't overdose on it...though I believe your skin can start to turn a funny color if you consume A LOT of it.

[Ice_Pick_Abortions]

It don't think that it's likely to cause problems apart from maybe being a bit more painful, like being tattooed over a spot. My OH has half sleeves and his arms aren't without some KP bumps and there was no issue

[Bomber]

I seem to remember something on BME about tattooing over KP, it's entirely possible.

[Mkatsi]

I get this really badly on my thighs. I did alot of research and apparently vitimin E creams are very good for it, I also used cocoa butter and a vitmin E exfoliant, but nothing really seemed to do the trick.

[manchee]

Ugh I too have this. Ive had it for at least 15 years, so i dont think Im gonna be growing out of it any time soon!! Ive tried loadsa things over the years, E45, body scrubs, you name it. I dont know if they still do this any more, but years ago the dr even gave me steroid cream to thin my skin! Ha not that it worked...

[Bijou_Venus]

I did some research on this for a client a long time ago, and whilst i can't remember much about it, i do remember that a shortage of some of the B complex vitamins can be implicated - so stock up on those!

[Bomber]

This may help some of you ladies - it was the only body wash my friend had at her house and surprisingly after one use the pimples and redness on my arms had gone down to barely visible!

http://www.spafindskincare.com/products ... m_wash.htm

it's not particularly cheap and it smells a bit like parsnips (I think!) but it seemed to be quite effective.