To all who suffer from this annoying condition...this is the story of how I have completely controlled my Keratosis Pilaris.

All my life I had these pink patches of skin with little bumps on my cheeks. It would be more or less obvious from time to time, but always there. It would also come and go on my arms and legs. I never even knew what it was. I always just thought that I had bad skin. I envied the girls who had clear smooth skin. Why them and not me? Why am I so unlucky?

Well, as an adult it wasn't quite so bad, but still there. After the birth of my first child it was on fire...it was everywhere and now on my forehead as well and there is sat. When my son was seven months old I noticed small little hard pimples on his cheek, just three or four that would come and go. I put a dab of my glycolic body lotion on it and it went away, but would always come back. I asked his pediatrician about it and she said that it was a benign condition that was hereditary, nothing to worry about. O.K., I thought this is what I have, but I still don't exactly know what it is.

Afer a long career as a technical writer and taking a few years off to be a mommy, when my son was two I enrolled in an esthetics school and took some advanced courses at a hollistic college to start a new less stressful career. During one of my nutrition classes we were going over minerals for the body and skin. The instructor talked about the needs of calcium and the skin and how people who suffer from small little bumps like sandpaper skin that is called keratosis pilaris can benefit from nutritional supplementation. Oh my God! This is what I have. It has a name! Now, how do I get rid of it. We went into further discussions about the causes of it and this is what I learned:

Ever notice why children, teenagers and pregnant moms suffer from this condition worse than anyone else?...because their calcium needs are greater than any other group of people? Keratosis Pilaris is a condition in which your body has a problem with the hormone that reguates the uptake and utilization of calcium. In addition, sugar flushes calcium from the body at a faster rate than normal. So, by consuming sugar and high glycemic foods (white bread, pasta and other bad carbs - not all carbs are bad) it exacerbates the condition. Well, I just went right home and put it to the test by cutting out all sugar producing foods in my diet. In one week the skin on my arms smoothed out. O.K., so I thought there is something to this. I went out and bought an extra strength calcium compound (one with multiple ingredients that help your body use calcium) and kept on taking my vitamins and fish oil and maintained my diet of low sugar. To my surprise the keratosis pilaris on my forehead disappeared completely and my cheeks were better, but not completely clear and under my chin was still pretty affected. I increased my calcium compound by another pill and low and behold all of my skin smoothed out like I had never seen it before...and it stayed that way. Water was also a key component to help the calcium be utilized. You cannot be dehydrated.

I thought to myself..."I cannot believe that a doctor cannot tell me this." Because it is not available as a prescription.

Then shortly after that I became pregnant with my second child, keratosis pilaris started sprouting back up on my face again. I increased my calcium again and it smoothed out again. I am now breastfeeding and my skin is still smooth by just adjusing my calcium according to my needs. Who would have thought? I only have a little bit on my knees which I can live with until I am done breastfeeding, which is a far cry from my body when I was breastfeeding my first child - KP was out of control.

As for my son, I asked the doctor if there was a calcium pill for children and she just said give him more green vegetables. You have to watch out for OTC calcium supplements, they are notorious for lead contamination. I use only pharmaceutical grade vitamins which are purified of heavy metals (this goes for fish oil too). I give my son a multivitamin and once the in-laws left and I was more in control of his diet, I eliminated all of his soda and candy and guess what?...the bumps on his face went away. Inotice when someone gives him candy and sweets that it flares up.

I still have residual redness of the skin from years of this irritation, but I have noticed that this too is beginning to fade. I did a couple of medium-depth chemical peels and it faded a lot more. When I'm done with the baby stuff I will resume this therapy to correct the damage. I don't have a sugar free diet, but I drink mostly water and certainly no soda. But I do indulge in the occasional candy bar or pasta meal.

I challenge anythone to try this and let me know if they succeeded the way I have (denise@spa-medical.com)

I take a general multivitamin Basic Preventative 5 (pharmaceutical grade from Douglas Laboratories)
Dyna-Cal giving me an additinal 1,500mg of calcium (Douglas Labs - Extra Strength Natural Calcium/Magnesium Complex which has several supplements)
Opti-DHA 1,000 mg of Marine Lipid Triglycerides (Douglas Labs so there won't be mercury contamination)

Just a note: Douglas Lab vitamins are only available through a physician's office. I have seen some on the web, but we noticed that they were expired more times than not. If anyone is having trouble getting what they need, just email me and I can mail order these to you since I am partner's with a doctor in a medical spa and am offering treatment for Keratosis Pilaris.

If you take other kinds of calcium, make sure it is a soft form of calcium, not the hard form which can accumulate in your joints. Do your research.

To all who can benefit - I say good luck and may you be as successful as I have been in controlling this annoying little condition. Keep me posted.

Hey Denise thanks for the great information, did you already read the post "I've hit a break through please read"? I'm asking because Rachael who startd it also has a background with natural medicine...maybe there can be a collaboration of ideas. Thanks.

Ive Hit A Breakthrough Please Read!!!

Denise, thank you so much for the wonderful info. As I read through your post certain things started to click and make sense. The whole foods store just opened close to my house and I have taken on an organic diet with little to no sugar, and my skin has certainly improved. I will make it a point to get some calcium pills sometime this week, thanks again.

Whats the difference between hard and soft calcium ? and how can you tell?
ty.

Hey thanks for the tip now i will know how to get ride of KP, and that will effect my mom to not pop my KP anymore... YAY!!!

now wonder i was bulimic for about a year and those annoying bumps start popping up like crazy

Thank you so much for posting this. I'll definitely give it a go and see if I get any promising results. It sounds very logical.

Wow i wish i learnt that in one of my nutrition classes!! That makes so much sense, and i thought it was a vitamin a deficiency. However just to let everyone know that if you increase your silicon and manganese intake in your diet then you can consume more potentional calcium without taking calcium supplements. If its that we have enough calcium in our body, its just that we are not absorbing it then we really should look at the other factors to help us absorb the calcium instead of just overloading on calcium. Silicon rich foods include parsnips, oats, brown rice, strawberries, celery, cucumber, apricots and carrots. Also chlorophyll (spirulina) and mineral rich foods will increase calcium absorption.

We need to be careful in calcium supplementation as an EXCESS of it can result in a loss of other minerals in the body including iron, zinc and manganese. And we definitely do not want this..Also try to avoid calcium inhibitors including:
Coffee, soft drinks and diuretics
Excess of protein, especially meat
Refined sugar, too much concentrated sweetener or sweet flavored food
Alcohol, cigarettes and other intoxicants
Excess salt, and the calcium inhibitor solanine found in tomatos, potatoes, eggplant and bell peppers.

I hate to be the one to burst the bubble but...

I went on a detox diet 18 months ago and have remained on a dairy free, sugar free and refined food free diet ever since. I drink plenty of water and I also take calcium/zinc and flaxseed supplements.

I have found that ever since starting the diet my kp is much worse! I now have kp all over my arms and legs rather than just the upper halves. It is also more pronounced everywhere else on the face and body.

I will look into buying a higher strength soft calcium supplement instead. I have also started vitamin A to see if that helps.

You can imagine how disappointed I am!

Can anyone please explain what is soft calcium please????

Denise~
I emailed you a week or so ago to order some products through you and have not yet heard back.... I would really like to order some of the stuff you are using!
Thanks, Shannon

Detoxing (while an extremely healthy procedure) depletes the body of many essential minerals. No wonder your KP went out of control. Taking a calcium/zinc supplement alone will not get you there. You have to take other minerals that work in synergy with calcium. (like Vitamin D3, manganese, magnesium, Vit C, Vit E...). You need a multi-vitamin/minerals supplement and make sure you have what your body needs to utilize calcium.

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you have more will-power than most. A sugar free diet doesn't guarantee you aren't mineral deficient. give it a try. I completely agree with the hydration though.