How about PHA? Anyone know more information about it and how does it match up against AHA?
I'm looking for an upgrade, but my local pharmacy doesn't carry 15% AHA, so it's either 15% PHA or 10% AHA.

tormentedfairy, a 3.4oz bottle of 8% solution lasted me for around 5-6 months. That's for application on both upper arms, twice daily.

phew!! thats a relief! umm... Ive never heard of PHA..sorry!

I have a question. Have you all seen the "over the counter" dermabrasion kits from Olay and other such brands? Would that be a helpful thing to have for the crystal treatment, ya think?

As far as I know, there haven't been any head-to-head tests comparing the effectiveness of Glycolic vs. other AHAs for treating KP. There is hearsay and theoretical advantage to some over others. Glycolic is one of the "strongest" of the acids, meaning it is one of the most potent for actual exfoliating, and will get the job done more quickly than say, lactic acid, urea, and things like that. This seems to be why Am Lactin, KP Duty and similars aren't effective for treating even moderate cases of KP - they just do not exfoliate enough to keep up with the disease's rapid and constant formation.
I haven't heard anything about PHA, though, and I don't think people around here have experimented with it much, so it's anyone's guess if or how well it would work. And we still haven't even solved the AHA vs. BHA thing, whether BHAs are better at cleaning out follicles.
All of the kits I've seen are a major ripoff. They will charge you $20 for maybe a spoonful of crystal mixed into a tiny container of their name brand moisturizer. That might last you a few days.
Compared to buying the crystals dry and mixing them on your own, where you can get almost a *pound* of them for that same money, which will last you about a month.

But the actual buffer tool they give you may ease the scrubbing process. You could probably buy the crystals seperately as you recommended, but the tool itself might be useful?

hey for those who are using mircrodermabrasion...i personally found out that aloe vera gel works spledid with the dry mix. The gel is thick enough to hold the crystals together without drounding in the gel..as i have found in typical lotions.

I tried neutragenas microderm thingy a couple years ago when it came out and saw no results...i only used it for about a week though

It worked really well for me...my butt feels so soft and smooth when I use it!

I'm way too skinny...in order to maintain a healthy weight the only thing that's worked for me is my daily lunch of Taco Bell caramel apple empenadas and 2 red burriots and my dinner of 2 Bakers red burritos, french fries, grilled cheese sandwich, and butterfinger milkshake. Wow...no wonder I have KP

hmmmm... you sound like my cousins and some extended family. I sure didn't inherit that metabolism but I have family who has. Do some research about partially hydrogenated oils. The nutrition community has known for 50 years that we shouldn't be eating these and only now are they being pulled out of the mainstream food industries.
If you have a Trade Joe's nearby, you're in luck. they have these energy bread rolls thhat have raisins and some whole wheat and I forget what else. I'd recommend those and stocking up on (can you eat nuts?) nuts and coconut oil and macaroons and... letsee, my cuz eats muffins. If you can afford it, stock up on the frozen natural foods burritos too, at least you won't be downing the bad fats (read ingredients when you can). oil is good and great for you if you eat the right kinds. (also something that's been known for decades...) Dried fruits are high in calories and nutrition too. I like the Kashi cereal bars but they might not even be high enough in calories for you! Let us know if you do any diet changes and if it helps your KP!

It is meant to be a committed period of treatment. Stopping and starting, as it seems with most methods, will not be effective, and may just cause frustration in the long run. Doing it properly and thoroughly is awesome. The smoothness is just the beginning; it can do some very good follicle work, too, if you hang with it.
But if you start and stop, you lose your progress and then have to get to that same place again. You end up re-doing the same exfoliation over and over (every time you let the KP "grow back"), instead of progressing.
It may have more to do with BMI than weight. Some people are skinny but surprisingly flabby and have low muscle mass. I'm thinking of those chronic dieters who are always cutting calories, but not building muscle or intaking protein (I used to be one of those). In that case, your muscles don't generate as much heat, your metabolism slows, your temp (especially on the extremities) and BP get low, and you keep and may even increase your fat layers. That can invite or worsen KP dramatically, even if the person is of a normal or low weight.
I've noticed that whenever my fat layers get thicker, I start getting new KP on areas like my stomach -right across the belly fat, love handles, and up the flank areas where the fat is there. It's disturbing how suddenly and quickly the disease sneaks up on you like that, and follows the fat perfectly.
Muscles generate more heat, and your skin stays warm when there is less fat to trap it inside. And, if you're in shape, you supposedly make more testosterone, which keeps your skin better hydrated naturally.
I think these things alone might be enough to treat mild and some moderate KP. I am slowly going back into that kind of lifestyle now and really hoping to get rid of these new bumps that have shown up on my winter fat. (Yuck.) It is way too much hassle to be putting AHA on all of those areas every day.

It could be, too, that having a healthy BMI affects the skin in some other way. Most people (in the US anyway) are not even close to healthy weight or healthy BMI, so KP could just be one more health problem, one much less-studied, that comes with the obesity crisis. And maybe it is part of why KP is so common (on the arms, anyway). If it is both genetic and tied to being overweight/overfat, it makes sense that it would appear in epidemic proportions. Maybe the skin is no more able to cope with the effects of weight than the other organs of the body are.

There are some naturally very skinny/underfat people who have severe KP, though, so I'm sure it has a genetic acuteness as well as being affected by lifestyle factors.

Hehe funny you should say that. My whole family shops ONLY at Trader Joe's, and my house is rid of all hydrogenated oils and the such cause my brother is a health nut. Baker's cooks with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil...and I'm not so sure about Taco Bell. I thought they pulled it out, but I dunno. Anyway, thanks for the great tips...I will definitely try them out

Funny, just been thinking a bit about the whole relationship between KP, age, and weight.

This is a theory I have just really thought up about it all. I think it is pretty much agreed that some people are more genetically disposed to getting KP than others. However I believe that there are other factors at times in our lives that 'tip the scales' towards KP appearing or getting worse i.e.
- hormones (puberty, pregnancy)
- excess weight
- cool climates

The opposite of the above therefore seems to improve KP i.e. being older (30+), being within the recommended BMI, being in a warm sunny climate.

The reason I say this is I have never treated the KP on my arms or legs ever (to worried about what was happening to my face I guess to ever worry about it!) but the KP in these areas began to fade naturally in my 30's and now at 45 it is practically undetectable (still have a few small red dots on the top of my thighs) NB. KP on arms was the red bump variety filled with white keratin plugs

I often wonder why other people in their 30's/40's are still struggling with bad KP and in same cases it is getting worse since their teens. I am wondering if weight is an issue in shaking KP off in your later years. Weight doesn't seem such a factor though in KP improvement in teens and twenties however.

My weight has always been constant and at the lower end of the BMI index. I note that olders ones have lost weight by improving their diets and this has also helped their KP - I am just wondering how much the weight loss helped as opposed to the diet?

Any thoughts/comments welcome

yeah maybe I should have stuck with it...I guess I just felt so giulty for even buying it because of all the cruel and horrible things that Neutragena does to animals I won't ever buy anything like that again!