Hey, I'm a newbie here at the forums. I'm a 16 year old male who was recently diasgnosed with KP in mid- January. The redness and bumps started on my arms and shoulders late last summer. As months ran by, it spread to my chest, stomach and a little bit on my thighs and back. So as you can tell, I have a pretty severe, which it what my derm said.

As a 16 year old male in high school, it's still extremely embarrassing. I find myself seeing other guys and saying "Why me and not any of them". It's downed my self-esteem and self- confidence. Ive tried so far, Ammonium Lact 12%, which is put on at least once a day, twice if at all possible. It's helped the redness and bumps just a tad bit. Also, i've started going into my chlorine- pool and for some reason, it's not aggravated my KP at all but it seemed to have helped. I've also started taking showers every day where as every other day. In the shower I use Cetaphil moisterizing bar soap and then Cetaphil lotion and then rinse. I don't scrub my skin with the towel but I pat it down.

Is there any advice at all you can give to this now low self-esteemed and low self confident, desperate teenage boy?

hate to be a downer mate but there is no cure, however it may go away when you get older, the fact your going through puberty doesn't help the matter.

Try using a deep moisturiosr and with regular exfoliation it may help remove the build up of protein which are what the bumps are.

Chlorine will help your KP, so will the Sun, and moist air.

I was perscribe Hydrocortisone, which helped with the redness (however it shouldn't be applied to regularly as your body builds up a resistance to it), that with regular moisturings, exfoliation, chlroine and lots of sun will all help.

By the way for your self esteem, i think you'll be surprised about the amount of people who have it, with younger kids its as common as 50%-80%, and adults 40%-50%

good luck
Ed

The bumps are not just build-up of protein, but also entrapped sebum. So, while your skin is dry, your bumps needs 'drying'. That is why mosturizing without scrubbing will make your kp worse. Read other people's recommended treatments and experiment till you find what works for you.