Hi! I'm new to this site and this is my first post. I have a 3 month old son and developed KP around my 6 month of pregnancy on my upper arms and then later on my upper legs also. I got progressively worse until I finally went to see a dermatologist when my baby was about 2 months old. The derm agreed that it was KP she told me to exfoliate in the shower every day and use Eucerin Plus (w/alpha hydroxy). I have seen major improvements since exfoliating/moisterizing, however, the bumps still persist after weeks of sticking to the regimen. I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with this treatment and also wondering if I'm ever going to get rid of this. I'm 39. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

KP2006

Hi kp2006. There's a number of success stories that you might want to check out (just scan thru the forums).
As far as getting rid of it, the answer is: Dunno.
I've been trying to research KP for a number of years now and unfortunately there's not a lot of information out there on it considering how prevalent it is among people. The is a common consensus among doctors though, from what i've been able to gather from medical papers and reports and dematological "conventions." There's 2 "causes" one is genetic and one is hormonal/environmental. Genetic being those people who have a family history and tend to develop KP young during early childhood. The other group being people who develop it either during adolescence or pregnancy or other times.
Those in the genetic group tend to fight with it a lot longer (on average) than the other group. People who develop it at like 3-5 years old and end up having it well into late adulthood 40s and 50s is unfortunately not uncommon (I fall into this group, but i'll be damned if I go without a fight ^^) There's a belief that complete clearups are more common at those older ages due to the body's change.
Those that develop it during adolesence and pregnacy (on average) don't fight with it as quite as long. 80% of adolesence get some form of KP but alot see it totally clear up by their early to mid-20s. Same with those that tend to get KP during pregnacy. The average time there seems to be a couple of years after the child is born. Giving the body time to return to it's previous chemical/hormonal balance. This latter group (pregnacy, adolesence, environmental group) seems to have more success with treatments/"cures" than the genetic group as well, though there's no opinion on whether that is due to the treatments or simply a coiencidence.
As I said, you kinda have to find your own way to go and what works best for you. What I said above is not set in stone anywhere and is simply a general consensus. No doubt you'll find people here who prove the above wrong but it generally holds true for the majority.
Good luck and keep us informed.

Yellowadept:

Thank you for your reply. I know now that I cannot necessarily EXPECT a result right away, however, it could happen. At least I won't disappoint myself if it does not happen right away! Thanks much. Good luck with your treatment attempts also!

I also recently had a baby and my KP also became worse around my 6 month. Every since I was 13 I have had KP on my upper arms but during my pregnancy it spread to my lower arms, I've also noticed a few bumps on my thighs and bum--yuck! I've noticed a SLIGHT improvement over the past couple of months (my baby is now 5 months old) on my lower arms but they still look bad enough for me to wear long sleeves during 80-degree weather! I am currently using Tazorac cream and urea cream with modest improvement. I hope to have more children in the future, however, I am not thrilled with the idea that each new child brings about more KP!!

Please also see my other post "results after 2 weeks"... I found a great solution for me.

It's true that pregnancy affects the skin - I had excema with my second daughter. It was winter and we had the fire on, and suddenly my skin felt like it was on fire. Too much dry heat and a horrible itchy rash. So that sucked. But then after my second daughter was born I had kp on my forearms, especially on the right. How odd! My youngest is now 14 months and it's gone now on my forearms and rear. My upper arms will always look different from having had kp nearly my whole life but I'm so glad the bumps haven't come back.

Time and a little pumice sponge and good lotion will do the trick!! Enjoy those babies they're more than worth it eh??

ACE, how funny it is that your KP was more prominent on your right forearm--so is mine!! You would think that it would spread "symmetrically", apparently not! I just had to respond to your post since I've had the same weird "asymmetrical" spreading of KP!! It's encouraging to know that it may dissapear on the areas that have been affected during the pregnancy (the forearms and rear)--I should have considered it a blessing when I only had it on my upper arms!!!!

... It's so nice to know when someone else "feels your pain." It's such a small thing to see it asymetrical and freak out about it - compared to an infinite number of things people suffer from in this world. But when anything happens to your own body seemingly overnight, it's as though your body is telling you something! In our case it is just a sign that hormones are out of whack. That's not very scientific but the proof is that after a year they're gone. And I am enjoying chasing my two around again. Upper arms...? Different story. A constant battle.

Good luck with yours mvmorgan. I am constantly checking in here to find the next idea.