Keratosis pilaris is a common skin condition in which a protein in the skin called keratin forms hard plugs within hair follicles.In my case, it's on my face, arms, stomach, butt and legs. It's pretty prominent on my arms and face, and I have been fighting with this all my life, with various salves and creams and gels, trying to get it to just go away, because it makes me insanely self-conscious, almost as much as the dark circles you've read my lamentations about now for the last three or four years. When I get hot (and I am a human furnace, so that would be often), it turns bright red, and is impossible to conceal with makeup. Sexy!
I inquired at a visit to the dermatologist about what it *is* and how do I kill it off, and she simply said "that's KP, you just don't often see it on the face. Get something with lactic acid and be pretty religious about it and that will do a pretty good job of controlling it, but if you get lax about using it, it will come back to life." In my research for a different type of product besides Am-Lactin and Lac-Hydrin, lactic acid lotions which I have used off and on and don't see as much improvement as I'd like for the trade-off that comes with smelling kind of like stale pee, I found this product, Dermadoctor KP Duty Dermatologist Body Scrub, a giant jar of scrub that promises to make quick work of KP. The line also includes lotions and serums, but the scrub, for me anyway, is the big deal.
I used a code for Beauty.com to pick up a big jar ($44 before code) in mid-late April and immediately opened it up ready to try it. Despite the directions on the jar explicitly stating "not recommended for the face", I said to myself, "I am going to put some of this on my face and if it burns Ill wipe it right back off." Obviously, I am not brilliant, but thankfully no adverse reaction. I reached in and I took a big handful, and started smearing it on the affected areas of my face and arms, whatever was left I smeared on my stomach, and scrubbed it in a little bit, then I set a timer for 1 minute. Then I got into the shower and started to rinse it off and went about my shower duties.
After I got out of the shower, it was like new skin, skin that belonged to some other person and not me. That was the big seller for me. I am generally allergic to everything, and I had no reaction to this at all, just results, and nothing adverse on my face either, which was a shocker. The big appeal of a product like this vs a lotion/salve/cream/gel, is that you use it before you shower and then rinse it off, and you're done. No stale pee smell to linger behind, no lotion-y feel.
Some of the reviews raving about this product indicate that people leave it on for a little while before rinsing, so in the last several uses I have been doing that, usually around 5 min on my face and 10 on my body. Sometimes I put a facial mask on the rest of my face, then the KP Duty where needed afterwards. That's about all I can tolerate just standing around doing nothing.
It's reasonably priced as well considering the amount of product in the jar. I am maybe half-way through my jar, and I've used it on my face 2x a week now, and on my body 1x per week, making the cost-per-use quite good. If anyone else has this condition and has any thoughts they'd like to share, please do in the comments below! Or if you give that product a try, let me know your thoughts!
Photo credit: Dermadoctor.com
Interesting! My daughter has a little of that on her upper arms. I have never put anything on it, but it's good to know of it ever bothers her, there are good produces out there.
ReplyDeleteHi there! This has been the most effective product for this condition that I have found yet. Usually Am-Lactin/Lac-Hydrin lotion is recommended/prescribed, but without it being the prescription strength version, it's not usually strong enough for real results, and you have to stick with it to see results and maintain them.
DeleteThanks for reading the post and sharing your thoughts!