I've had KP on the backs of my arms for years (I'm 18 now). About 2 years ago, I started putting "specialized" lotions on it to see if it would go away. After a while, it seemed to be working, but it spread around to the sides of my arms (with it still on the backs). I upgraded to a 20% AHA lotion around January of this year, and since then I've been putting it on 2-3 times a day. The deeper of my red dots seem to be pretty much completely gone, but now I have a lot of "surface" red dots. They're a lighter red than the KP dots themselves, and they almost look like they're a cause of irritation. They don't look like any KP that I've had before, but they very well could be it. I started taking vitamin A supplements about a month ago to see if it would help clear my skin up, but they don't seem to have helped in the least bit.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Would downgrading to a lower grade AHA lotion help if it is being caused by irritation?

I want to try not putting any lotion on for a few days to see if that would lessen the redness at all, but I don't want to fall back on my "KP treatment".

Also: I live in a dorm now, and the shower doesn't have the nicest quality water at all. So could going from softer water from a suburban area to harsh metropolis water have anything to do with it?

Thank you for any help or advice that you have to offer!!

"Soft water" did have an impact on my KP. I visit some relatives down in Atlanta, GA, and the water is soft there & my KP was almost completely gone after 8 days. Initially, I thought it was the lotion I'd started using it, but when I came back home (hard water area), the KP came right back.