Nylarual, I appreciate the advice. I don’t necessarily believe that I have any psychological disorder. But I would say that experiences I had growing up, combined with a mother who isn’t very kind, contribute greatly to my anxiety. I strongly believe that if I was raised with a heavier male influence, I would a different person...but neither here nor there. I do think I may have a bit of OCD, but its very minor. And I think that is more of a result of my design/artistic side (I like to arrange things so that there appears to be order in my surroundings... hehehe).

Lindsay, that is so helpful. Many of the points you have brought up are things I have already thought about. I don’t like to look for flaws in others, but I am doing it more and more lately. I guess I am just trying to match myself up with others, sort of like I’m comparing.

Its true that guys have a harder time talking about things like this. We don’t like to have flaws, or weaknesses. And admitting that we have weaknesses is hard to do.

I have started to fix things in my life. I've gotten in much better physical shape, and I recently started a new job. I am making pretty good money for my age, and I moved out on my own and have become very independent. But maybe this is just my way of compensating. I don’t know...

Shay, that is a lovely thought, but I am on the other end of California! (San Diego County) At one point I had a Myspace. But as you can imagine, it wasn’t really for me. My self esteem isn’t something that lends very well to advertising on the internet. It turned into a grocery store for people, where you have to create this image on there so that people will want to meet you. I couldn’t do it :-(

But I love the idea of the KP group. And thanks again for the offer ;-)

Aquarius, I feel for you. This is such a hard thing to deal with. I tell myself I need to be grateful that its not cancer or anything, but gosh its still difficult to deal with. My heart goes out to you. I know how you feel.

Stella, where are all of us KP'ers?! Its like we have the same experiences and feelings. I guess we are all so good at hiding! I now look for girls with KP, but its so hard to find them. I totally understand. And I'll look up Salex. Let me know how it goes. This site is wonderful for finding "cures", but it always seems there is only one cure per person. What works for someone, doesn’t work for the other. GRRRR!

Skinaware~email me at meganshan@yahoo.com.... Then we can trade info... So you live in Vegas?? Im going there July 14th!! Gotta tell me some good places to go!

Hi Shay, I have Myspace, can you tell me the name of the group, I would love to be a member :0)

It's K P's Friend but none of us ever write anything on there....lol

wow its like reading my own life story... seriously lol. im 20 and the last year i've lost 65lbs and toned up a lot then ever since KP has really gotten to me. i used to wear t shirts a lot because it never bothered me but now i wear nothing but long sleeves. i live in so cal so you probably know how hot it has been =(

guy05, thats it exactly...i used to wear short sleeves more often, but when I look back, I did wear a sweater alot...

I'm 17 1/2 right now and living in CA. I've been working out since last summer and i'm in pretty good shape. I've had KP since 12 but it has stayed primarily on the top back and the top of my arms near the shoulder until a year or so ago when it started creeping its way down to my forearms and towards the wrist area in general. I was totally destroyed because this was my safety spot, so I thought. I could at least wear t-shirts or short sleeved as long as the top of my arm didn't show, but not that was all gone.

This past summer, even in the hottest of days, I wore long-sleeves when I went out. When I went out with friends or everyday to school on the hottes of days, it has been with a long-sleeved. I've learned to make a fashion or style out of it, but god damn just for once, I would like to be able to go to the beach with my friends and have fun; for once i'd like to not look around to others with perfect tan and complexion on their arms when they wear t-shirts and short-sleeves and be jealous and envious.

I missed out on so much like sports and ocassions because of KP. If God is out there and is punishing me for my past evil-deeds, I hope it goes away soon.

Lately, i'm growing more concerned - the condition on my arm is not slowing down and there seems to be what looks like a single KP kinda bump on my left eyebrow, under the hair. It popped out and I was freaked because at least I had my face totally blemish and scar free, perfectly tanned. I know there is a condition of KP that effects the eyebrow area and this is totally unacceptable. I can't tell if it's acne or not and I do'nt know what to do.

I share all your pain and just know that time heals all things. I know this but I can't accept this. I want to be able to enjoy my time and I can't seem to do it with KP. I don't know what i'm going to do with myself right now but I hope you guys have better luck. Please share your results and successes especially.

Best of luck to you all and keep in touch.

I know exactly how you feel.. except i cant cover it up because its on my face. and i find myself fairly attractive if it wasnt for these stupid bumps and blackheads on my cheeks. I also get so self conscious wen my boyfriend looks at me.. it makes me so sad and depressed i cry all the time and tend to push him away.

First of all, my heart goes out to everyone who is a sufferer of this horrible diseases, especially LoneWolf. I have been sufferibg from kp for a long time. I didn't even know what it was called. I was just being told by new doctor that I have kp just two days ago. The old doctor could not figure out what I had. I was given so many creams, soaps and more creams, but nothing worked. I was even sent for a biopsy, the derm told me I had verticolor skin condition, so I was prescribed more drugs and cream, still no changes to my kp.

I was very sad that I had this bad skin, that could not be cured. I noticed that sometimes it is bad and not so bad some other times. I put it down to my hormonal changes. I don't raise my arms like normal people do, in case someone sees the rashes. I was very good at hiding it, but I was never depressed or anything, I didn't let it get to me, even though deep down I was unhappy that I was not like everyone else.
anyway I moved on with my life, suffering in silence with rough skin on my arms and thighs, and at the back of my neck and now it is spreading to the back of my leg.
My friends and family all got used to seeing me with kp, and sometimes when I feel frustrated at my skin, I just wear sleeveless, didn't really care what people say, because I have had enough of hiding my kp.

I got got married and had a child and still the kp was still there and now with a vengence. Now I am worried about my son, who is now 6mths, let 's just hope he doesn't inherit the condition from me. I have five siblings and I am the only one who has kp, how sad

Eventually two days ago I decided to show my new doctor my arms and thighs, he looked at them and told me straghtaway that I had something called keratosis pilaris, I didn't have a clue what the hell this was, but I was glad that someone knows finally, phew what a relieve. I was overwhelmed with emotions and I cried so much, my baby joined me.(and I am still crying) I was soooooo happy. My doctor then prescribed me some cleanser and mosturiser to use, he couldn't give me anthing strong because I am breastfeeding at the moment.

I also decided to check the internet to see if I can read about it and boom here I am. I am so glad to see that I am not the only sufferer out there. For years I have accepted my skin condition, and I thought that it was part of me, I was wrong, now I can start treating it properly thanks to my doctor. I like this forum because I can read others people's comment and advice.

I am 28yrs old, I have been dealing with kp since I was 18years old. I was diagnosed two days ago, I can't believe it.

hey everyone!

i havent been on this in months bcz ive been getting ready for university and now im here! so anyway, I had the bumps as i said earlier and now theyre literally non-existent and it was cured by clindoxyl. no im not saying this is the miracle cream cz its not.. but i have really fair skin and the bumps were obvious and my derm knew immediately what it was, I was kindve resistent because ive tried everything and so far it had just made it worse! Plus i wouldnt have been able to take it cz starting a new univ and evrything !! I took that leap and here i am! it feels so good just to wear my hair up! But seriously dont give up THERE IS A CURE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC SKIN TYPE you just have to find it! Good luck everyone!

Lonewolf... I totally agree with you. Sometimes... I feel like I want to rip my skin off. I hate looking at people at the beach or people who complain about the small things. I hate looking at my arms and legs and I hate the fact that it is spreading as they so call it. What the heck... its been lately that it has gotten worse and not better. Sometimes... I feel that their won't be any hope for me, but at least someone else will benefit. Regardless, its easier said than done when someone says to forget about it... because when I have a bad day and this is a given in the bad column it sucks to always begin your day in the negative. I sure hope someone develops something, cause this is a pain.

i've got to tell you lone wolf, none of the guys i dated ever cared about my kp. if you dress right it's hardly ever an issue anyway. i live in l.a. and have managed to deal with it.

remember, your attitude, how you project yourself and how you treat people are much more important than your looks. and it sounds like you look pretty good anyway i bet you'll be fine.

p.s. now i'm married, and my husband has some problems with his complexion, not kp but acne. he likes to stay covered up (long sleeves, etc) because of the scars on his arms and back. but we agree that it is great to be with someone else who has "imperfect skin" because we understand each other. he doesn't care about kp and i don't care about his type of "bumps."

Hi, Lone Wolf!
I guess we all here felt like we read our own story by reading yours!

It's that sad-ish to have KP and I would be lying (I am Brazilian, so excuse any mistakes...) if I told you we all find a way to get thru it, because, as you can see, we don't!

But, really, we girls are the 80% of the 50% of KP sufferes in the world, so, chill out, because if the girl you like/want to go out with doesn't have KP, SOMEONE in her family or very close has it!

So, it's not something she has never seen or even touched. Maybe she haven't ASKED about it, but she sure knows by now that a lot of people seems to have this "rough" skin. And the "first seconds" with someone new, no matter if the person touches your arms, she is probably so nervous that she will be touching your arms thinking about what you might be thinking and will hardly let any space in her brain left to use her senses cells (!), so she might touch you, but won't actually FEEL your KP right away. Remember we don't touch someone at "those initial" times (meeting someone at a club,etc) to see how the person's skin FEELS, but just to TOUCH the person, period.

The only non-family people that has EVER commented about my KP were my 2 best friends, because I complain 24/7 about my KP. I had this guy that we were "flirting" for 2 years and he has NEVER even talked about it, god knows if he has even noticed! And I have it all over my arms and legs and in so many other places! Ok, almost all my body!! And I once chose not to be with this very handsome guy because I thought "he's so handsome he will hate my skin!" and I remebered he was touching me all the time and seem to NOT have a problem in touching me, but I was too scared to let him be with me and maybe ask me about it or be freaked out about it. That was 3 years ago and I STILL want to be with this guy! I thought that maybe if I treated my skin I would go after him again. But now, even though I have his number, god know where he is and if he is dating someone. He seemed to really like me and I blew it because of my KP...
I am sure a lot of people here has a story like mine...which is bad...

But I don't think like that anymore. I was born with that, and although I've been doing a treatment for a week now and it's getting really rid of my KP (you should try it!), I am going to start to go out again and if some one ever notice it and ask me I will say "I was born with it!", just like someone's daughter here in this thread uses to say! And, I can say so many things, like, that I am treating it, tell the person all the statistics, etc. Actually, it can become a nice chat topic! The person will see how cool about it you are and will think of how uncool she is about some of her insecurities and will either:
a) Become more confident about her own insecurities, that she sure has while she talks to you ("oh, I don't have enough boobs"," This top makes a little chubby thing on my belly", etc etc...), and that will make her more attractive to you.
b) or/and :She will find you even more attractive, because a person who is confortable with who one is and is confident about one self gets 100% hotter by the second!

And she doesn't need to constantly touch your arms! She can touch your hair, your neck, your belly, your hands...Just think about all the other places she can put her hands on (don't take that to the wrong side, please...)!
You know what I mean? You are more than your arm! How much do YOU think about a girl's arm when you kiss her?

Got it?

So, go ahed, have fun! Soooooo many people have KP and sooo many people with awsome skin are jerks! Thank God you have KP and you're not a jerk!

Go surf! The sun actually does wonders to KP! Girls don't care about your KP! At least not the worthy/cool girls! So you have KP! And your friend who you are avoiding might have something that he is self concious about it too!

We are all here trying to go on with our lives by talking to each other and giving each other support!

So, you worked out, lost your chubby waist, got all handsome, seems to be a nice guy, works, got out of home...C'mon! You can get through this too!!!! Ok?

Try the Treatment @ my Thread!
TheShotOne

Thanks for that post TheShotOne, it reasures me to know that there are girls out there who will see past how my skin looks.

feel ya dude. My KP is spreading. It has to do with hair. Guys get older and start growing hair all over. Chest, back, neck, shoulders, stomach. But each person grows different amounts - controlled by genes, just like KP. so yea, its gonna spread :-(

Oh and totally agree on your second point! I was just thinking that tonight. Its like, everyone has insecurites about themselves, but then you gotta add KP on top of it all!