Hi ,
I have had this ugly condition since childhood I am now 48 ! I stated taking niacin tablets 500 mg daily . not the flush free or extended release. The kind that makes you red and itchy for awhile . uncomfortable but worth it. anyway i took it for another reason and it has miraculously cleared my skin . please try this and see if it works . I only found this type of niacin in the health food store . regular stores usually carry only the flush free kind ,
good luck !

Hi,

this is interesting news. How do you tell if it's not flush free/extrended release? Is it just that it doesn't say it on the label?
Would this be suitable do you think?
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/vf/labels/001480HB.pdf

Congratulations on your improvement. That's quite quick.

goodjill,

Thanks for sharing this with us. Would you rate your KP as moderate or severe? Bumps with redness or just bumps? Has your skin cleared 100%?

kebod

Hi yes the bottle should not say flush free . My skin was red and bumpy all over my legs , butt and backs of my arms. it felt like sandpaper. now it feels alot smoother but still has red dots where the bumps were. I have just given it to my two daughters who have the same condition but not as bad . i am waiting to see if this works for them and if mine continues to improve . i will keep you all posted , thanks

Does anyone know if sustained release means the same as extended release?

Yes I think it does.

why can't it be flush free or extended release? does that alter the effects of it in some way?

Niacin Flush - What is it?
I've been reading about niacin and I think the flush effect is the key to this benefit since it opens your capillaries and detoxifies.
I didn't find anything about smoothing your skin but it really did with mine. I've been taking multi vitamins with the flush free in it with no difference in my skin for years

Congrats on your improvement! so suprised that it actually works on you. This was actually the first meds that my doctor prescribed to me. It was like 10 years ago. But it didn't work on me. I'm thinking maybe what you have is not KP 'cos deficiency of Niacin does cause some skin problems. But since I run out of options for now, plus it's easy to get, maybe I will give this another try.

I bought some today as it was very cheap although I've just realised that the multivitamin I take has 100% RDA niacin anyway. Although the single niacin tablet has 555% RDA so maybe it would help because it's stronger?
I checked and together they would be 118mg total which is not too high to be dangerous although I might stop with the multi-vitamins maybe (I've been really bad at remembering to take them recently anyway).
My KP's not looking as bad as it was yesterday but I'm keen to speed up any improvement as the weather is starting to get warm now.

Anna,

The kind of niacin (Vit. B-3) in multivitamins is either niacinimide, which does not cause flushing or a low enough dose of niacin, which also doesn't cause flushing. Goodjill had her results with the non-flush-free niacin, the kind that causes about 10 minutes of itchiness and redness and is not harmful or dangerous.

It is interesting to read that the niacin flush is detoxifying. Perhaps it is lessening KP by getting toxins out of the system?
The role of niacin in detoxification

Goodjill is taking 500 mg. daily.

To read more:
DoctorYourself.com - Niacin Saturation

kebod

Oh that's interesting Kebod, I never thought of that. The one in my multivitamin is nicotinamide whereas in the niacin one it is nicotinic acid. I'm just about to take my first one. So I'll report back whether I see a difference with it.

OK I definitely got the flushing kind! My ears are very pink. My arms are itching (particularly the inside of my elbow for some reason?). I think my KP's looking worse. I feel like I do when I blush.

I thought I noticed some little black things on my skin like the black stuff that came out of my pores when I rub them with coconut oil. It was only a couple of them though so it could be coincidence..

Good Luck . I hope this works for everyone !

Well, my KP's not looking red now and my skin's looking pretty good, but it could be that I've turned the heating on rather than the niacin. It's so frustrating at the moment trying to judge whether anything is working as my skin will often go from terrible to great several times each day. I could take some photos on the same day and people would think they're before and after shots from months apart.
It hasn't made it any worse and the flushing was strange but not too bad, just a weird sensation. Anyway, sorry I just needed to vent. I'm trying to judge what's working but my body keeps changing back and forth. At least it does look OK sometimes now which it never used to.