I have had KP since I was born. Iv'e always hated it, but the worse part was having it my face. I had awful bumps, and my skin was red and splotchy. Well I went to the derm for the millionth time, and this time just wanted something for my face. She prescribed Tretinion Cream, 0.025% my face is not completely smooth, and not red at all. It contains: tretinion 0.025%, stearic acid, isopropyl myristate, polyoxl 40 stearate, stearyl alcohol, xanthan gum, sorbic acid, butylated hydroxytolune, and purified water. And all you do is wash your face at night, wait 30 min. (till your face and neck are completely dry) and apply right before bed. It has seriously saved my face! Now for the rest of my body.

Is tretinion a steroid?

I honestly don't know.

Tretinion is vitamine A-acid.

I also use this cream on my face with good results. As my KP on my face was disappearing with age anyway it is hard to know how much the cream got rid of the bumps and how much they would have gone anyway.

I no longer have any red KP bumps on my face and my skin is a much better texture than it used to be without the cream.

I use a brand that is only available from a dermatologist (in NZ anyway) - it is called Retin-A cream and has 500 micrograms of tretinoin to a gram along with 1mg of butylated hydroxytoluene to a gram.

My son (12) has a few KP bumps on his eyebrow and I have been using Anunu's coconut oil cream on them - this is obviously a lot more gentle than the retin-A cream and I feel better using on my sons young skin. Each time his eyebrow looks red I put some on and the next morning it is fine.

Someone recently posted how much coconut oil had helped them and what I wondered was what is the active ingredient in coconut oil that makes it work (I think you may have mentioned this before Anunu - but I have forgotten!). Obviously the acid in the retin-a cream helps sloth off the kp build up but can cause redness if not used carefully. The coconut oil is a lot more gentle but have been wondering why can it also work when unlike AHA's and tretinoin it is not an obvious acid????

Hi Anne:

Pleased to hear that my little invention, Koru kp Oleum, works for your son! This is very heartening!

Regarding the active ingredient in Extra Virgin Coconut Oil...

I am not sure if it is an extremely potent component found at low concentration, or if it is the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil in totality.

It does have a nice coconutty fragrance, so that demonstrates that there are aromatic ingredients present (unlike many other oils which have almost no smell). It might be this that is causing the antiinflammatory effect, hence why topical Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is effective for the redness of kp and UO.

The other big difference between Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and other plant oils is the extremely high level of low and medium chain saturated triglycerides, specifically lauric acid triglycerides. Almost half (44%) of coconut oil fatty acids are lauric acid. Lauric acid has 12 carbons in the hydrocarbon chain. This is the reason why Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is often solid at room temperatures. It also accounts for its resistance to oxidation (i.e. it is very difficult to make it rancid) unlike polyunsaturated oils like sunflower/safflower etc that go rancid easily and often need to be protected with antioxidants.

Koru kp Oleum has a couple of other additional benefits over plain Extra Virgin Coconut Oil: added Vitamin E and plant derived thickeners. These might also account for the good results with your son's skin.

Sorry about the long winded answer...I tend to ramble sometimes...

C ya

Annuu

fascinating! - I am going to keep using the coconut oil on my son - as yes it does have a gorgeous smell.

Hi Anne:

After reading about how Koru kp Oleum helps with the redness of your son's eyebrow, it made me think...

I am allergic to some ingredients in shampoos and hair conditioners, especially guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, so I sometimes get red itchy skin.

I had a VERY itchy patch on my calf that was driving me crazy, so I thought 'why not try out good ol' Oleum to see if it helps?'

The next day it was much better, not nearly as red or itchy, and by two days it was virtually all gone.

It didn't work as fast or as strongly as a steroid cream, (which after all is very powerful stuff), but I like the fact that oleum is natural and very gentle.

So in addition to kp, I wonder if Oleum might be good for people, especially children, who have eczema?

Annuu

I think you could be onto something Anunu - it is so much nicer using a product like that on a child's skin because you know it is not going to make it worse. I have your jar of cream sitting on the kitchen bench and just put a bit on my son's eyebrow when I notice it getting red and the next morning it is fine. Not very scientific but he has had no more hair loss in the eyebrow area. Again I don't know if it is just coincidence or not but I suspect strongly that the cream is 'calming' down whatever is causing the skin in that area to flare up.

You will have to find a kiwi kid with eczema and cover them with koru oleum and see what happens!

Good idea, I know just the person with eczema, so I will ask if they would like to try it out.

Regarding childrens' kp, our son (who's 4) has kp alba on the backs of his arms. It is fairly mild, so I will see how he responds to Koru kp Oleum, by applying it after his bath/shower.

As parents, we would like to find something that above all is mild for our wee ones, that's what I like about Oleum.

Best regards,

Annuu

Ally,
So did the tretinoin cream eliminate the redness on your face? Did it get worse before it got better? My derma prescribed it to me but I haven't tried it yet.