Hello

I know its an old treatment so to speak but has anyone seen the redness reduced by using Retin A? If retin a is used wrong, it is not going to work. A pea size dab is supposed to be used every other night and then slowly increase the amount of nights that it is used.

Has anyone used Retin A correctly and had any success in reducing the redness?

I have used retin-a cream on my face for probably the last 5 years.

I had KPRF in teens and twenties but by the time I was diagnosed and prescribed retin-a cream the KPRF spots were pretty much gone.

I still had redness though from ulerythema ophrogenes and another keritinization disorder.

I found retin-a did not hlep the underlying redness (only PDL has helped that). However it has made my skin very smooth. My skin was always rough to the touch but now it is really really smooth on my face. I put this down to the retin-a cream.

Initially when I used my skin just didn't tolerate it - but I perservered and like you said only use a little bit every other night. If you have perserverance and patience it is worth trying - it will probably take 1 - 2 months to see any results though.

If your redness was mainly from the inflamed hair follicules I would think hat once these were unblocked by retin-a cream helping the cells to 'sloth off' , that the overall redness would go down.

The big question with KPRF is 'how much redness is from inflamed hair follicules and how much is from redness due to damaged capillaries'


Jason on this forum has helped the inflamed bumps by using IPL to get rid of the hair on his face and PDL to help with the underlying redness. If you are not keen on loosing your facial hair retin-a is certainly worth using. It works very much like an AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) but is probably a bit more effective I would think. However as retin-a cream is a lot more expensive most people don't tend to use it on normal KP.

Let us know how you get on with it

It seems like its always a no win situation with kprf. I am considering PDL but I am just researching clinics near by.

If I were to have PDL, would it mean never having facial hair again?

NO,

first of all u should only have KPRF if u have KPRF on ur cheeks, and IPL hair removal is a setting that needs to be told and set to intentionally remove hair (only from the cheeks area) not the goatee area or under neck I only had the hair on my cheeks removed which also smoothed out my skin ike a baby's bottom. PDL is only for redness nothing else. IPL is used for setting required: remove wrinkels, remove hair, treat and/or remove redness. but with either treatment and being a male u can loose some hair on the red areas being treated as I did, thats why after I saw IPL was not working for the redness, and my cheeks hair was looking patchy from treamtments, I decided to remove all the hair from my sideburns down to my chin , just on my cheeks for a more even look, now it just looks like I grow facial hair just around my mouth and under neck, and cheeks are always smooth no need to shave no shadow either nothing, so I only have to shave the rest around my mouth and chin and under neck, and I save on shaving cream, mach 3 blades. not to mention shaving your cheeks just aggravates the KPRF and if not but completly adds to the more redness over the years as u pass puberty and into adulthood from always shaving. If u ever seen for example Leonardo Di Caprio only seems to grow hair around his mouth and under neck thats the look I have now. some people only grow minor hair even in their 20's but if u have a full beard area to shave IPL is great to cut it in half.

Cheers for the reply, Jason. I will more than likely get PDL. I like to grow facial hair and shave to be honest. I am into the Rocky IV training beard look

I just hope PDL can solve the problem. My skin is pretty smooth, it is just the redness. It is amazing how much it can take over and ruin your life to some extent.

INDIGO23 is asking about KP not KPFR... has any body had laser treatments PDL or IPL for the redness associated with normal KP?

no because KPRF is on the face and would be treated with laser, no derm would treat KP which is on the arms and legs with a laser because it would take forever to get all those bumps, not to mention this is the KPRF forum,the KP forum is on the top of the home page. KP is on the arms and legs and are nothing compared to KPRF on the face!

buck: its still possible if you read my reply that PDL can still effect the hair growth in areas treated because the redness is in the same area as the hair. and shaving im my opion effects the KPRF because when shaving ur beard, remember ur shaving over the KPRF, which aggravates it, I bet when ur done shaving ur even more redder on the cheeks ?

Very true, I do agree it does make it redder but I think it should be a mans privilege to be able to grow a beard and shave everyday. Obviously I would prefer the redness to go and not have a beard but the thought of the facial hair going away is a no win situation for me. I suppose that's life, unfortunately. I shouldn't really be worrying about if it affects my beard, more like if the redness will eventually go away via PDL.

I am unlucky enough to have KPRF and KP on my arms, but I would gladly keep KP on arms for the rest of my life than have KPRF. You can hide KP, but not KPRF.

Buck,

I didnt remove the whole beard, only the cheeks. I didnt touch the goatee area (moustache and under lips on chin) or under neck (throat). basically imagine ur beard area but with no hair on the cheeks. how old are you ? I have this condtion since puberty over 10 years ago, and as u get older the hair on ur cheeks become almost defective from shaving with KPRF, its not just aggravating it it actually makes it worse as u get older from shaving for years and years, but a woman does not worsen it because no shaving face area. but then again I dont know how old u are, and my beard area was fine from 15-21 years old, always had the rendess but beard area was changing. if u have to shave use a mach 3 blade, apply a thin layer of vaseline in beard area then a shave gel (the more plain the better) I use aveeno, then shave with the grain, then against the grain. after washing face do all this of course, then after shaving ur skin is moist from the vaseline and not irritated and the vaseline comes right off while shaving. dont shave everyday, more like every 2 days.

KPRF