It would probably be good to get a diagnosis from a dermatologist - do you have any good ones in your area? Derms can look at your skin up close and find out what is actually going on with it.

However even Derms aren't infallible as red cheeks can be misdiagnosed as many things so you may also want to post a picture hear on the board to see what others with KPRF think.

To correctly treat your skin you really need to know what you have got.

Can I throw some more questions at you?

Have you got KP bumps on the tops of your arms?
At what age did the red cheeks become a problem?
When you say your eyebrows itch, do you notice any small red bumps on the outer third of the eyebrow area?
With the redness on your cheeks - does it affect the whole cheek or is the redness more concentrated in one particular area?
Is your nose affected by redness at all?

regards
Anne

Hey everyone, I am curious about whether I have kprf. I hope you don't mind anne that I take the test too.
I do have kp bumps on the top of my arms, the red cheeks became a problem at age 11 or 12, I don't have itchy/hair loss/bumps near the eyebrow area, the redness is concentrated on one part of the cheek.

-Thankyou for your time

Sorry I'm butting-in on yalls conversation, but I do have red cheeks and I have been picked on for it as long as I can remember! I really wish I could get rid of it but it just won't go away! I try to wear make up like foundation to cover it up, and it covers it up about 35%. My red cheeks still have a strange and annoying way of aways being seen! I have bumps on upper arms on the part of hte arm the is furthest away from my body. I also have a little bit of a rash looking bumps on my fore-arms! but just a little though! Help me! Do have any advice????

Well the bumps on your arms are probably KP. The reason I asked about the arms is that if you have one of the rarer KP variants of KPRF, UO or AV you will most likely have normal KP on the arms. If your nose is red however you possibly have rosacea. KP and its variants don't seem to ever effect the nose.

However as 40-50% of the population at some time in their life (normally always during their teens) have KP is doesn't mean that the redness of your face in one of the above disorders. From my own personal experience (remembering that I have absolutely no medical background) this is the way my symptoms started.

Prior to age 13 skin was fine
Age 13/14 red rash appeared on side/bottom part of face and even some redness on neck and ears Cheeks became red and began to flush when exposed to extremes in temperature and such things as alcohol and spicy foods. (KPRF)

Eyebrows began to itch and become red - outer third of hair began to disappear (Ulerythema Ophryogenes).

Top part of cheeks were the worst - they would stay inflamed for hours after getting hot and the skin on the top part of cheeks become rough looking with a sort of 'pitted' look about them (Atrophoderma vermiuclata)

Tops of arms had red KP bumps filled with a white plug (normal KP)

I think it is safe to say that if your facial redness appeared at puberty around the same time as the KP bumps on your arms that it may be caused by one of keritinization disorders I have mentioned above.

To be sure though you really need to see a dermatologist. You may also want to post a picture on the forum of the affected area. Many here have been correctly diagnosed with KPRF and know what it looks like. Of the above rarer disorders (from the number of people posting on this site) I would say KPRF was the most common followed by UO, with AV been the least common.

As you will have read on this forum there are a lot of potential treatments being looked into for KPRF but in order to help your skin you really need a diagnosis of what it causing your face to be red.

Hope this is of some help.
Anne

I would take a picture but I don't have any good lighting. I have a patch of red with bumps on both sides of my face around the jawline near the ear. I also have bumps on my cheeks with no redness. I'm almost positive its a mild version of kprf.

-Thanks for your time

~Jewwules

I guess I will go see a derm at some point soon, but I doubt I'll have much luck getting a correct diagnosis (I live in Denmark, and after a bit of searching there seems to be absolutely no information online about KPRF and UO here).

I've got the KP bumps practically all over my body except for the face and neck. It is probably worst on the backside of my upper arms and thighs.

I've had both the red face and bumps for as long as I can remember. I've seen pictures of myself from when I was about 5 years old and it was probably at least as bad as it is now (although it's hard to compare directly as my cheeks were much rounder and my nose much smaller).

As for bumps in the eyebrow area, I haven't noticed any. When I touch my face it is pretty smooth all over.

Anyway, I took a picture today. The redness is not as pronounced and a bit more purple-ish than I see it in the mirror.
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9871/rimg1075sh1.jpg

I see what you mean - there are not noticable KP bumps on the face that show up with KPRF. I can see the redness in the outer part of the eyebrows though.

Because the KP is so bad on your body you would wonder if it is part of a keritization disorder. Hopefully you can find a good derm who can shed some light on what is going on.

Not sure if it is just the light in the photo but is the top part of your cheek a pit rough and pitted?

looks like KPRF to me...i have a very similar pattern of redness on my face...and as far as derms go, i hear u man. I paid a private derm to look at my skin here in London (150pounds), and she didnt even know what KPRF was.

Its bizarre because so many people are misdiagnosed as having rosacea, when in fact they have KPRF.

Terry

To Everyone!
PLEASE check out the thread, "Worst Case of KP Cured Naturally."
worst case of KP treated naturally-Success story on page 76

Baronster cured her very severe case of KP by going to see a naturopathic doctor. She discovered she had an overgrowth of bad yeast (candida), which can happen to anyone after a few rounds of antibiotics and a sugary diet, and she got tested for food sensitivities (it took about 4 months to completely get rid of the bumps and the redness). I am currently being treated for candida too and I am giving updates. It's a lot of reading but it will be worth it. I'm not saying that this is the cause of everyone's KP but it very well could be.

Not only that, but candida overgrowth is the cause of many other ailments - headaches, horrendous periods, fatigue, sugar cravings....the list goes on. Google candida overgrowth, read our stories, and consider finding a naturopathic doctor in your area that can test you for candida levels and or food sensitivties.

I have accepted my KP & KPRF. I wear makeup, I learned how to relax myself, I exfoliate and mostuirize my bumps, I use scar treatment on the red dots, & once again I relax, I know what a situation is going to rise.

Also, I am not very social. I tend to flare up around strangers, I was agoraphobic for a long time. But I dealt with it until I became entirely comfortable with people. Don't be afraid to let yourself fall in love, and if your partner calls you on your KP just explain that you have it and are learning to deal with it and take care of it, and MOVE ON from that. The first two months of my relationship I was in horror that I was burning up and covered in bumps but I fell and love and gradually as I become entirely comfortable with my beau symptoms went down. I don't even get hot around him anymore, unless we are in the sun, eek! I hate the sun!! But during sex I've even somehow kept my temperature down. But like I said, I am a girl I wear makeup. A liquid foundation. Something I have noticed is that I am malnurtured from an eating disorder and I think that if I was healthier it wouldn't be that bad, like my skin. So I suggest eating healthy, seriously. No fast food, and limited meat. I always thought hormones had something to do with it, like when I was pregnant.

I wish you all luck, I hope you can all learn to deal with it. I pray all the time that my two brothers can deal with it and live happy lives filled with confidence and strength. They are quite tan, for two red cheeked german boys, but I see the bumps on their skin. They don't notice it and they don't even know that it exists, if they ever become concerned or get like I did and freak about it and get depressed I'll be there to help them.

x o x o

hi levnon,

there's something called a vega test which supposedly tells you what foods you're 'sensitive' to. It sounded promising when I read someone's success story with this, but when I googled it, there were a lot of sites saying there's no evidence behind it, and this is what the founder-person of the idea says themselves, so not sure....
Have you actually been to a dermatologist about the redness? coz I battled with it for a while before I finally went to one, and she suggested that the problem is caused by my blood vessels dilating too much, or something, and I've now been taking medication that constricts the blood vessels prescribed by a doctor (the dermatologist sent them a letter explaining) and my skin is way better. I still get the odd flushing attack but I've noticed a huge difference. Of course, it doesn't mean that this is suitable for everyone, and it's contraindicated for those with low blood pressure, but it's a low dose so it doesn't do any harm.
Triggers for me can be hot food and drink so I dont drink many hot drinks, I still have hot food but just dont scoff it down I guess, stimulants such as caffeine (in tea, coffee, and even chocolate if you eat enough), hot showers, the cold, lots of things really. But I guess it's different for everyone and you have to tell from your own experiences, but those are some pretty common and logical things to avoid. Hope that helped a little.

hi catlover,

I've seen many derms and frankly I've totally given up on them . In the past 3 months I've visited 3 different derms and none of them could really figure out what's wrong with my face. They all agree my face is extremely dry and so prescribe some sort of a moisturizer. I know at the age of 14 one derm said that I suffer from rosacea and suggested I use avene diroseal + avene anti-redness moisturizer. It helped a lot! About a month ago , I decided to start using diroseal again in the morning + xerial 10 body-milk cream in the evening. It is diroseal that is mainly reducing the redness on my cheeks while xerial keeping the dryness to a minimum plus taking away the few red bumps that appear regularly on my forehead / nose . I do not know why the redness decreases with diroseal and frankly I dont care. I will keep using it for the next 2 months and see if the redness would totally go away.

Comon triggers for me are the sun light and shaving ( my cheeks become really red after shaving ) . Ofcourse hot showers or eating ( anything ) makes my cheeks redder but lately the "relaxation" time has become very small , so small that my cheeks are pink almost all the time. I rarely flush too.

Anyway I'm doing OK and thanks for your concern.

I was mis-diagnosed with rosacea a while ago, went to another dermatologist and she correctly diagnosed my condition it as KPRF.

I have KP on the back of my arms, around where the triceps are. On my face, I have KPRF on either side of my face. I've noticed that in people who have rosacea, their redness is more centered around their nose. My redness is a pretty dark hue, although my bumps don't seem to be as bad as the other people who have posted pictures. Also, my ears get quite red when triggered.

Anyways, the dermatologist that correctly diagnosed my condition prescribed some Stieva-A cream, 0.025% (I'm pretty sure it's some sort of Vitamin A thing), and told me to apply it twice a week. To counter-act the drying effects, she also told me to use Cetaphil moisturizing lotion three times a week.

I told the dermatologist that I'd heard laser treatments could be useful, and she said in certain cases yes, but most likely it would not improve my condition.

Even if I could make my face appear less red, I would be the happiest person in the world. I am extremely self-conscious and my social life has greatly suffered as a result. Any advice from people who have been in my situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi all- I'm new to this and have ker. pil. atrophicans- have had since about age 45, am now 58. Used lots of creams, lost most of my eyebrows. It looks like skin lupus(mask) when left untreated. The only thing that has worked for me is 5mg. every other day of prednisone. It keeps it in check. When the pred wears off, the itchy, red skin above the eyebrows mainly comes back, but have had a large chunk of keratosis burned off my right cheek and recently have been diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma on my forehead, soon to be removed. What a mess. No sun is the rule.As a teacher I find that any elevation in blood pressure causes flushing. The pred works for me but has side effects of course. I resorted to a rheumatologist but keep current with my dermatologist. Judy

Judy R,Im just wondering but are you a biology teacher ?