I'm 33y/o light skin black male and have had kp since I can remember, started on upper arms and has just gotten worse through the years. Back, lower arms, buttocks, upper legs, back of neck. I've given up on getting rid of it, however does anyone have any suggestions on lightening my dark scars( from picking). thx.

prescription strength Hydroquinone will fade, bleach the area but you need to put it on evenly over the entire area and then go back and dot the darker spots.

This is not the same thing that Michael Jackson used.

On one of my previous posts I had said how I treat my skin. I have gotten rid of the dark scars and rarely have bumps. I use the above plus and entire system that goes to deeper layers of the skin to help your skin even out the production of melanin producing cells.

Your dark spots are actually scars which have less moisture, less collagen and more melanin.

The more melanin that you skin naturally has the greater the risk of darker spots (hyper pigmentation)

Although Hydroquinone is called a fade or bleaching cream. What is really is doing is supressing the cells called melanocytes. You won't turn them off completely but beware of going into the sun. That area won't have the natural sun protection of melanin that you were born with and you can get sun burned easier.

In that case the sun is damaging the skin with free radical ionizing radiation. Or as you are aware, damaging the DNA so that you can have a mutation and form cancer cells.

Laser Nurse

I am also a black male and I have been using stuff like skin scrubs and Neutrogena Skin Smoothing Lotion to reduce the KP all over my body and I have shown marked improvement but not totally as the dark spots remain.
Recently I have been considering use Hydroquinone to lighten my dark spots but I am curious as to how effective it is in its abilty to reduce to reduce the spots and whether it they will return after I stop cause most information on the medication says not to use it for more than eight weeks at a time.

Thanks

I have no idea why it says to not use for more than 8 weeks at a time. Many doctors have been using it for years on patients.

There is a way to get the dark spots faded and lessened. I hesitate to post it again after the nasty posts that I tend to get.
You would have to be prepared to spend time, be consistent and spend the money to do it.

The Esthetician at my office is a black woman of medium skin tone. She has beautiful skin and is the one who has taught me so much about treating the different skin problems.

A simple option is to go to a person who does the self tanning spray. An artistic esthetician can air brush your skin so that the tone comes out even and it lasts as long as a tan would.

I have KP all my life. Now I 'am 28 (Asian girl) My skin was horrible. Before I used Hydroquinone and hoped it would lighten my skin, but I didn't get good result and somebody told me that it would work if you continue using it for at least 6 mos. So I stopped.

Currently, I use Sulphur (SA 3%) soap and scrub my skin every day. After showering, I apply Oxy 10 (Vanishing or Tinted). To me, this cream helps me fading red spots. I have seen so much results from scrubing and Oxy cream. You can buy this cream from Walgreen. ($4.99 for 1 oz)

Now I barely have bumps. Light red spots still there, but you have to look very closely to see them.

I am not sure if this will work for everybody. At least it works for me and I just want to share my story.

lasernurse have u ever heard of elderquine?"not sure thats the right spelling"if so, is it as good as the bleaching product u have been using and what % would u recomend to use!also please could u tell me what other products you use on your kp as they seem to work well,at the moment i use environ alpha hydroxy toner forte & environ proactive ultra day cream and have so for 6 months, i also have a face peel about every 6 weeks will this improve my kp in time? would really love to hear from u!!! many thanks.

LaserNurse:

So what did Michael Jackson use? Just curious.