r/keratosis

basically I have kp on my arms upper and lower. my left is way worse that my right. I fake

tan once or twice a week to cover it and use urea lotion and amalactin. I feel like it’s been the same

for a long time now. at the point of maybe trying chemical peels.

to me this looks absolutely horrible to the point I think about it almost 24/7 but having a tan on is the only thing that helps to kinda cover it. Idk if anyone else does this but when I go outside I’m like omg it’s that bad?!

I guess I’m asking how do you keep with with the fake tanning while also rotating all the lotions

Cold showers are the hardest part!

I’ve had keratosis pilaris since childhood, but during my high school years it became much worse because I developed an urge to pick at the bumps. Over time, I also started struggling with dermatillomania (skin picking).

I’ve tried several products already, including the La Roche-Posay cream, but it caused breakouts for me. The CeraVe SA Cream also didn’t work, and I’ve used the Bioderma Atoderm Shower Oil together with the Atoderm Balm without seeing a little improvement but it stopped.

At this point, I’m feeling really insecure about my skin, so I would really appreciate any recommendations or advice from people who may have gone through something similar.
Thank youu🙏🏻🙏🏻

I had strawberry legs and it reduced drastically due to being consistent with the products i use. Although it still remains more visible especially during summer. My other problem now is this hyper pigmentation on my thighs . Any recos to reduce it?

After shaving and there's still a ton of bumps. Note I exfoliated with a pumice stone before shaving and an exfoliating glove after and that still didn't take care of it. Any advice on how to shave anymore? It's physically painful to shave my legs now. I use to only have it on my upper arms but it's spread in the last year or so.

I'm in my early 30s and I have tried everything. Urea 20%, BHA, soap, daily moisturizer, soft exfoliate, etc, monitored for months and nothing changed...

In fact, I think using all these products over the years just made my KP even worse?

But something strange is that a year ago I bought a Fitbit watch for sleep tracking and I wear it all the time on my left wrist... and if you look at photo, its the only place where I don't have KP.

Does anyone know why?

Like am I crazy and imagining things? does it not look like my left wrist where I wear my watch all day everyday for 1+ year is the only place with little to no KP or is this a coincidence?

Hey everyone! 20f here, I’ve been lurking in this sub for years and have battled pretty severe kp. I grew up having it and don’t remember a time without it. I’ve had people touch my arm and ask if i have goosebumps, or recently, someone looked at my arm and asked, very concerned, if I was okay because I had a r@sh ._.
I thought I had tried everything. I went vegan, gluten free, dairy free, tried the mediterranean diet, no sugar, gut health focused, but the KP didn’t budge. Doctors prescribed amlactin which seemed to make it worse even after 2+ months of consistent use. I tired cerave SA cream, exfoliating mitts, moroccan exfoliating glove, FAB kp bump eraser, vanicream lotion, and so, so much more, to no avail. I even tried the new smooth kp lotion with indigo, and while it did work quite well for parts I picked at, I still was covered with red, inflamed bumps. Maybe if i stuck with it I would’ve seen improvements, but eh, mistakes were made, which I’ll talk about soon.

Recently, my adhd mind has me set on getting baby smooth skin, so I’ve been doing some digging. I made a list of all the ingredients that worked for me, even a little bit, and researched what kp actually is and how it is treated and why the treatments work. I used this to help me start the routine that has made more of a difference than i’ve seen in YEARS. As you can see from my pics, things aren’t 100% perfect, but after a month (or 3 weeks, since I was on vacation for a week) the improvement in inflammation and texture is remarkable. I’m confident that I’ll be KP free in another couple months! Before i start, I will say i know this is a lot, but doing a combo of these things has helped my confidence greatly and made me feel better about my chicken skin. I only hope to help others who feel as defeated as I once did when none of these solutions worked. That said, I’m using these products daily and in a very organized way that i believe is the key to treating this condition.

Everyone’s skin is different and can handle different levels of exfoliation. For me, my skin is very very sensitive and I can only use low percentage exfoliants or use exfoliants less often (once a week ish). Even so, exfoliation is 100% needed to treat this condition, so finding a routine and products that don’t wreck your skin barrier is key. This is why it took me so long to treat mine, I had to find a way to exfoliate without inflaming. For so long I was using one or two of these products twice a day every day and it was making my skin worse because it wasn’t able to heal and i was continuously irritating it. Remember, balance is key, but try to exfoliate as much as possible without irritating your skin. If you notice your skin is irritated from a product, that DOES NOT mean the product is bad and shouldn’t be used at all. if you don’t notice irritation when you first use it, that’s a green flag. if you keep using it and notice irritation, you may just be using it too often. again, find balance and you will succeed in treating this. I made the mistake of discontinuing use of products because i thought my skin didn’t like them just to realize now I was simply overdoing it. if i would’ve scaled back my usage i probably would’ve seen results way sooner. and supporting your barrier when exfoliating and not exfoliating is also something that i ignored that would’ve made all the difference.

Before I start I want to give a short explanation on what I’ve learned about KP. It’s not acne, in any form. Treating it like acne will not help. It is a malfunction of the natural skin shedding process. Keratin sheds rapidly and the skin cannot keep up. It is comparable to psoriasis in my opinion (which i also have on my scalp), which I didn’t believe before, but know to be true after treating. I say this because it is a malfunction (not auto immune like psoriasis, but a gene mutation) that causes “plaques” or scales of dead skin, like psoriasis. This is why people have success with the sun and tanning (the sun treats psoriasis by slowing down the skin shedding process just like it helps kp because it slows down the skin shedding process). That statement is just a theory of mine and not a scientific fact but it makes sense to me. (I’m also aware that the sun camouflages KP to an extent, but I believe it actually treats the inflammation by slowing skin cell shedding, although I don’t recommend the sun as treatment because….cancer duh) This is why the Cerave psoriasis cream helped me a lot. When I first started using my routine and it started working, i literally saw the white callus plugs shedding from my hair follicles. A purge period is completely normal with this condition, especially if you had severe kp like me. the plugs were trapped under the skin and were able to be exfoliated out and the bumps flattened. I just wanted to point out that KP is a lot different from other skin conditions like acne because for a while i thought they were similar and should be treated the same.

Now. here is my list of ingredients I recommend getting in your skincare products to treat your KP effectively.

1. zinc pyrithione

- zinc pyrithione is a common ingredient used in head and shoulders or anti dandruff shampoo. it is an antifungal and also ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
- I discovered this after using cerave anti dandruff shampoo as a body wash after it didn’t help my psoriasis on my scalp
- using cerave anti dandruff shampoo (cerave has more moisturizing ingredients than head and shoulders) as a body wash a couple times a week, i noticed the inflammation and redness went down significantly. i think i will get a moisturizing zinc bar from amazon next because i find the cerave shampoo to be a bit drying for my body, but its okay if i don’t use it everyday.
you do have to use it often, though, for it to really work

2. niacinamide

- niacinamide has been my holy grail. it helps the skin heal, supports the skin barrier, provides redness relief, and vanishes blemishes
- i use the ordinary niacinamide + zinc for my face almost everyday and can’t live without it, for my body KP, i’ve found that cerave psoriasis cream is great to deliver this amazing ingredient

3. ceramides

- these are what actually repair and build your skin barrier, if you aren’t using a lotion with ceramides, you’re missing out on healthy, radiant skin.
- these are especially helpful when exfoliating regularly and really help to add extra moisture to your skin
- i use the vanicream enhanced moisturizer, eucerin roughness relief cream, as well as the cerave psoriasis cream

4. hyraulonic acid

- this one is another one i use on the daily, it makes your skin able to absorb 50x more moisture than without
- it’s a humectant that supports the barrier and keeps skin healthy
- i’m pretty sure the cerave psoriasis cream has this ingredient, and i know for a fact the vanicream enhanced lotion has this.

5. urea

- urea is another humectant that draws moisture into the skin. lots of “roughness relief” lotions and creams have it.
- higher percentages are used to moisturize and exfoliate callused and cracked feet.
it is highly moisturizing.
- i use this in the eucerin roughness relief cream and the cerave psoriasis cream
i also like to use a higher percentage urea cream (40% urea) every other week as a “mask” i leave on my kp for an hour, then gently exfoliate in the shower with an african net sponge and some gentle body wash
- remember to apply this to DAMP skin to maximize benefits (it will lock in all the water and soften the bumps)

6. lactic acid

- this is the one that i thought would never work, but turned out to be pretty great. small percentages of lactic acid are simply there to help moisturize skin. higher percentages (5 or above) are used to exfoliate the SURFACE LAYER of skin. it’s great for gently exfoliating, but higher percentages (12-15 percent) always ruin my skin barrier and make me incredibly itchy and irritated.
- i’ve been using amlactin daily 12 percent once every other week to get rid of the bottle before i buy the amlactin 5 percent body serum to layer under my lotion.
i will be able to use the body serum more often than the amlactin 12 percent lotion and it will hopefully not irritate my skin
- i’ve used smooth kp lotion before and it has a little bit of lactic acid (one time i tried to pop a kp bump and it was super inflamed and when i put this lotion on the next day the bump was GONE, so take with that what you will; that never happened with amlactin, ugh)

7. glycolic acid

- this is one i haven’t used enough to say it works for sure (i know it works for thousands of others though) the percentages i used must have been too much for my skin and just inflamed the kp more
- glycolic acid is very similar to lactic acid though, where it exfoliates the top layers of skin and brightens
- i recently got the inkey list glycolic acid stick and used it a few times so far with perceived success. i experienced too much irritation and dryness from the ordinary glycolic acid toner so i discontinued use shortly after trying that out. hopefully this will work out better. i want to use the inkey list stick once a week ish since it is also a high percentage exfoliant and don’t want to use it too much and ruin my progress

8. salicylic acid

- this one is by far the best ingredient for kp (imo). it is a natural anti inflammatory ingredient that also gets deep into the pores and exfoliates the DEEP layers of skin.
- i tried the cerave sa cream and didn’t like it before, i actually hadn’t liked any salicylic acid products before. that is until i tried the cerave psoriasis cream.
- i bought this cream on a whim when i was desperate to find a lotion that worked.
i was skeptical at first but realized i could apply it twice or even three times a day with ZERO irritation and it calmed down my redness TREMENDOUSLY
- i did notice the first couple weeks of using, my kp spots were purging. there were little white plugs coming out of my skin, when usually it’s just a thick red or white scaly bump
- after this phase, my kp has flattened dramatically, and they feel so so so much more smoother
i had never tried the sa cream long enough to notice this difference, now the cerave psoriasis cream is my best friend (more moisturizing than cerave sa cream beacuse it has urea and other more moisturizing ingredients, more expensive too, but worth it)

9. hair removal cream

- i saw this one awhile back on the sub and decided to try it out
- i had been using the flamingo gentle hair removal cream on my bikini area and armpits since i always got bad razor burn and ingrown hairs when shaving (works great for these areas if you deal with these issues btw)
- i decided to use this on my arms and legs as well to see if it would do anything
- the cream works by breaking down the KERATIN in your hair follicle. since kp is literally extra production and buildup of keratin in the hair follicles, it literally exfoliates and disintegrates the kp (at least that’s what i believe) either way it exfoliates the top layer of skin/hair keratin)
- i use it about once a week now and use the scraper after having it on for 5-10 min and then use my african net sponge to gently exfoliate in the shower and cerave psoriasis cream right after and when i tell you this is when i started noticing a difference.
my thick scaled arms actually started to get exfoliated!!

Here’s a summary of all the ingredients i recommend for kp:

- zinc pyrithione 1-2%

- niacinamide

- ceramides

- hyraulonic acid

- urea 10-20%

- urea 40%

- lactic acid

- glycolic acid

- salicylic acid

- hair removal cream

I know this seems like a lot, but try and find products with a combination of these ingredients! Most products already have a combo of these, so find one that works well for you! I’m basically using every type of exfoliant right now, but not experiencing irritation due to the way I rotate them. I currently use 3-4 different lotions in a week (cerave psoriasis, eucerin roughness relief, urea 40%, and vanicream enhanced lotion). I use two soaps (zinc soap and regular vanicream body wash). Then I use the inkey list glycolic stick, and amlactin every other week when i feel my skin can handle it. I could be using less products overall, but want to tackle my KP before summer and before a wedding I’m attending in a few months. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen when using any exfoliating product regularly.

The products i recommend are:

- zinc pyrithione soap (one with added moisturizing ingredients) ( don’t use daily)

- cerave psoriasis cream

- vanicream enhanced lotion OR any fragrance free cream/lotion with ceramides

- oukeya urea cream 40% unscented with niacinamide

- eucerin roughness relief cream (in the tub)

- inkey list glycolic stick

- flamingo hair removal cream

- amlactin bright and smooth 5 percent body serum (haven’t used but next on my list)

- any amlactin product, really, just use with caution as some of their products are very high strength

- smooth kp lotion (I would be using this more but I have too many other products that I know are working; might switch one of my lotions out to this eventually)

Here is an example of how I use these products:
————————————-
Monday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: hair removal cream + gentle scrub with african net sponge + cerave psoriasis cream

Tuesday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: eucerin roughness relief cream

Wednesday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: Zinc soap (leave on for 3-5 minutes) + vanicream enhanced lotion

thursday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: zinc soap + cerave psoriasis cream

friday:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: glycolic acid stick

sat:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: vanicream enhanced lotion

sunday:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: zinc soap + vanicream enhanced lotion

——————————————-
Then, the next week, instead of glycolic acid on Friday, I would do the urea 40% mask, and the week after do amlactin. I will also use one of these three in place of the hair removal cream if I’m not up for it that week.

Some other things I recommend doing/changing to help your KP:

- try to moisturize twice to three times daily on KP spots. the more, the better. for me, using the cerave psoriasis cream was gentle enough to use on the same day as higher exfoliation days (ie. put on cerave psoriasis cream in the morning and glycolic stick at night) if i want to rest from exfoliation i use the vanicream enhanced lotion.

- don’t be shy with the amount of lotion you use. i know it can be a sensory nightmare, but the more the better.

- DONT take hot showers (destroys natural skin barrier and dries out skin, making KP worse)

- only use moisturizing products, even exfoliation products and body soaps; anytime i’ve used a body soap or lotion that didn’t have moisturizing ingredients, my kp got worse (amlactin daily lotion dries out my skin!!) i’ve found the vanicream body wash to be a great non drying body wash that cleans without stripping my skin

- not blasting the air in the car or the house. i live in a super dry climate so i’m already dry as a bone as it is, adding air flow only dries out the skin even more, use a humidifier if possible!

- although diet change didn’t cure my kp, it sure did help a bit with inflammation and rate at which my kp appeared. eating healthier and more omega 3’s and fruits and veggies will always benefit your skin, i personally try to eat gluten, dairy, sugar, and egg free due to my psoriasis, but don’t stress about it either because stress will make everything worse too

- DONT PICK AT IT, just don’t, it will never help, it will only scar and take longer to go away and make it look way worse than it is

- controversial: don’t wash your kp spots with soap every time you shower, even with moisturizing soaps. i found washing my arms and legs every other to every three days to be the best. before you come for me, I do wash every other part of my body and I don’t work outside, I wear pants and long sleeves a lot so my body isn’t even exposed to outside air, so washing it everyday IS excessive and WILL dry out your skin and make it worse. I find doing this helps to keep my natural oils and skin barrier healthy and undisturbed.

- to add to that, i only wash with my african net sponge maybe once or twice a week. i use my hands to apply soap every other time i wash my arms and legs. i already chemically exfoliate to some degree almost everyday, so physically exfoliating that often would be too much

- lastly, a bit of a hypocritical statement after my last two points, but doing a deep physical exfoliation with a morrocan kessa glove and morrocan black soap once a month or less, has seemingly helped. you can look up a morrocan exfoliation tutorial on reddit or youtube or tiktok. although it made most of my skin baby soft, this didn’t help my kp at first, but doing this combined with everything else i’ve been doing has worked. make sure your skin barrier is healthy before doing this and don’t chemically exfoliate 24 hours before or after doing it.

I think that concludes everything!

TLDR
I’ve had KP all my life and recently found products and a routine that supports my kp type, skin type, and lifestyle. I’ve been able to reduce my KP dramatically in one month’s time with this routine, even though i’ve been using these same products for years with no results. The main things I recommend are balancing exfoliation with hydration (there are a million ways to do this but I achieved this by using lower percentage (less harsh) exfoliants more often and using higher percentage exfoliants (more harsh) less often while making sure to support my skin barrier and hydration every single step of the way). I really hope this helps someone!

Hi Reddit! First time posting here, so I’d really appreciate any help.
I’ve been dealing with this stubborn texture on my forehead for a while now and I honestly can’t figure out what it is. Some days it looks better, other days it’s way more noticeable, and sometimes I also get small breakouts with it.
I’ve tried pretty much everything for several months at a time:
Tretinoin and adapalene
A fungal acne-safe routine
Barrier repair with ceramides/cholesterol/fatty acids
Azelaic acid, niacinamide, BHA, AHA, etc.
Nothing has really made it go away. The only things that seem to calm it down a bit are Avène Cleanance Comedomed and the Sungboon Editor Green Tomato ampoule, but even then, the texture is still there.
For context, I do get keratosis pilaris on my arms, so part of me wonders if this could be something similar on my forehead? Or maybe closed comedones, folliculitis, clogged pores, irritation… I honestly don't know what it is.
I attached photos of how it looks. It changes depending on the day/lighting/angle.
Has anyone had something like this? What would you try next, or what should I ask a dermatologist about?
Thanks so much!

The photos are of different parts of my legs. I have been using different Urea cream everyday of my life for the past 3 years, from 10% to 20%. I have also used glycolic acid regularly for the past 3 months, once a week, and my legs have never looked worse. Not shown here but my legs peel with the glycolic acid but the plugs remain. I have also used moisturizerss with lactic acid, but not Amlactin because it isn't sold here and the shipping is very expensive. I don't live in the US.

I have KP for sure in my arms because my derm told me years ago but it looks nothing at all like this.

My method of hair removal is waxing, once a month, and I go to a specialist lady who has been waxing my legs for a decade. I have a healthy diet, dont have any health issue.

I don't dare buy another cream or acid without your advice.

I had laser hair removal may 4 and it’s now may 16 after my season I had a bunch of red bumps (follicular edema) that was red and itchy for about 5-6 days and eventually the bumps went away but now I have a bunch of dark marks on my bikini line where I did the laser. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I should be putting on it? Will it fade on its own? I’m feeling super insecure about it. This is my 4th session it did not happen to me in previous seasons

Hi!

I believe i have Kp. Weirdly, I used to be fine shaving my legs all my life until i got older and i would get the worst razor rash ever, especially on the outside of my legs. It would be so sore and my hair grows back quite quickly so it felt like i was always in pain. If my legs rubbed against literally anything like trousers, skirts, i would be in so much pain. Now i look back and wonder if it was a mix between KP and razor rash.

Fast forward to last year, i started waxing my legs. This meant i could be hairless for longer and didn't have the pain of shaving over a rash. Though as you can see from the weirdly angled photos (sorry, I wanted to make the bumps easy to see!), my legs still have bumps and still red. It looks a worse in real life and I've become quite conscious of it. And im started to get a bit of pain again when my legs rub against things.

I also suffer with quite bad razors rash at the top of my thighs, under my bum. I think again this is due to friction but it can be red and bumpy and be inflamed for days.

I used the Aveeno oil for ages in hopes that the redness will fade but I don't think it's helped. Now I've just started using the Cerave SA cream. So my question is, will this cream help? And does anyone have any other tips and products which will help my legs look a lot smoother!