Hi everyone, this is my first message on the board, although I've been viewing for a while.....I noticed in the archives that there is a thread on Tazorac, and so I'm starting up another here on the new board...I started with a new dermatologist, and he has me on Tazorac which I get from canadapharmacy.com at much less than in the U.S. by the way....they are great, I get other things from them too....anyway, the protocol he has me on is 10 mins. of Tazorac and then soak/wash off and then use Carmol 40....well, Carmol 40 is very expensive, more than Tazorac, so I bought Carmol 20 at $9.00 and used that twice a day, made sense....but arms and legs got redder and worse now after about a month, so I'm trying just the Tazorac without the Carmol, and I'm thinking that the chlorine in the bath water isn't great either and dries the skin...I have a filter in my shower so no Chlorine......does everyone else who uses Tazorac wash it off after 10 mins.? As of tonight, I tried using Aveeno lotion after the Tazorac and not any Carmol. I have been very discouraged as my KP came on strong when I turned 36, and it makes me feel very unattractive although I don't feel so in any other way.....it's been really tough....my doc says it is absolutely no big deal and that no one would care, and yet it is really red and inflamed all over the back of the arms and on the thighs which I never had at all before.....the doc also mentioned that it might be related to hay fever which I never had but my brothers both have badly....so I guess he's saying its an allergy....I read a post about anti-histemines helping, so maybe that would be something to try?
I would love to hear any other Tazorac experiences.......

Hi Heart2hrt!

I'm glad to hear your story because since I was prescribed Tazorac, of course I wanted to hear others' experiences with it, but I think I've only read posts from two or three other people who've tried it! I only used Tazorac for a short time because I had to stop using it after a couple of months or so when I wanted to try to get pregnant, but I believe in it. Like you, I started to notice my kp when I was about 36, but it was just a spot here and there, so it was nothing, but after the birth of my daughter at the age of 39, wham! It was all over my upper arms, then later my forearms and thighs. I know it's genetic, but I really think it may be turned on by hormonal fluctuations. I nursed for about two years, and it's been about six months since I stopped nursing, and my skin is not as bad now. It's mostly just my upper arms that bother me now. --And this is without Tazorac, for the most part.

When I was on a Tazorac regimen months ago, here's what I did. After I stopped nursing, I saw my doctor, and he told me to apply the Tazorac sparingly on my arms at night, wash in the morning, then apply a prescription lotion called Nutracort which is a hydrocortisone lotion. I washed, OK, scrubbed with a buff puff, and after a week or so of this, my arm skin was pretty much gone, alright! I found that I had to back off on the Tazorac, and apply it every four or five days instead of every day. I thought I had ruined my arm skin, but it was just a temporary thing. I've always alternated the Tazorac with some kind of lotion, AmLactin, mostly, but I read somewhere that Tazorac alternated with hydrocortisone is more effective at relieving symptoms than Tazorac alone. I quit using the prescription hydrocortisone lotion during the day and started using the Amlactin because I didn't want to be getting prescription lotion on my baby and didn't want to have to wear long sleeves to protect her from it.

Tazorac is labelled for psoriasis, so kp sufferers sort of have to experiment to find the right regimen because it's strong stuff. It's been a long time since I read about it, but I believe Tazorac not only aids in exfoliation, but it also curbs the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes, so I think it's the best thing to use, provided you're on birth control because it can cause birth defects. It's interesting to hear that your doctor recommended you wash it off after 10 minutes. Another poster said he used a pea sized amount of Tazorac on slightly damp arms. On the labelling, it says to apply it to dry skin, but that's for treating spots of psoriasis..... Applying it to slightly damp arms seems to me to make it easier to apply to a larger area, and even if it's somewhat diluted by the dampness, perhaps that's all the strength that a person with kp needs anyway. I'm speculating, though. I've not talked to my doctor about it.

That's my story! I think you will be able to develop a good regimen with the Tazorac. It just takes some experimentation to find what you can tolerate. --Or maybe all you'll need is ten minutes a day! My heart is with you, heart2hrt! Good luck!

Thanks Bobilu for your thoughts....here's my update....

I was using Carmol 20 with the Tazorac until I ran out, and my arms and legs didn't seem to be getting any better, and my doc had prescribed Carmol 40 but its really expensive, so I didn't buy another Carmol 20 and after the 10 mins. of Tazorac and washing it off and/or soaking in a tub, I tried applying just lotion, a combo of Curel and Aveeno, and it started looking better......I also tried washing off the Tazorac and not putting anything on, and it got even better, and I am a week into a tanning booth thing and whether its that or the lack of Carmol now for a couple of weeks, my skin feels almost perfectly smooth....although the red dots are still there under the surface....I also have been using Murad Exfoliating Cleanser which I think is for the face and it seems to also help a lot....I see my derm doc next Thursday again, he has a great rep for helping with KP, and we'll see what he says....I need to find out about using Carmol 40 at all from him, since the Carmol 20 (twice a day) seemed to irritate my skin, and sometimes it was even painful......I just came off the pill, which I had gone back on to see if it might help the condition, and since it hasn't for many months, I am off it because I retain extra weight when I'm on it and I don't need to be on it for any other reason....so, I'll find out more about the protocol for Tazorac this next week, and my doc also talked about possibly trying laser if this didn't work.....I think I'll wait because it seems to be really helping and I might need to just give it more time.....I'm really curious about whether the tanning is helping it, because it really started getting better as soon as I started that.......