Keratin clogging our hair follicles explains the bumps and is what causes the redness (due to irritation). But where does that red colour come from? Red blood cells no doubt. And I certainly believe that KP has resulted in greater angiogenesis in the skin on my cheeks. I dont think the lasers available today are really good enough to fully shut down the fine capillaries on our faces and stop the pigmentation. But one day they might be. In fact gene therapy may even be an option for KP sufferers in the future.

mogj32 you do need to be careful that veinwave isnt just a beauty clinic offering miracle results. But I personally think it is a genuine option.

I have a very hot system too and get blushing, and i strongly feel the KP is related to the heat in my system.

Dont worry Mogj, refer to a posting i wrote to a later thread about blushing..there are a few... it was about the things that cause it for me directly. That is diet... like black tea etc esp. and non breathable clothes and moods.

I think that what we can try is alkalising our system with kinds of vegtables and alkalised water.... this could help as well as being careful about temperature changes, clothing etc.

Also perhaps allergies to dust and dog hair i think might be a factor as well as stress to aggrevating my KP/general KP?.

It will be a long process to perfection. I think we have very sensitive bodies, maybe we should move to the country or a bubble.

there is always hope.

HI
I HAVE JUST BEEN READING ALL THE POST ABOUT THE VEINWAVE TREATMENT,,WHICH I ACTUALLY STARTED OFF ,MY SON HAS GOT THE SAME CONDITION KERATOSIS,PILARIS RUBRA FACEII, AND I HAVE TO BE HONEST THE VEINWAVE IS WORKING WONDERS ON HIS REDNESS,, AFTER EACH TREATMENT NEW SKIN COMES THROUGH,,I KNOW IT DONT SHOW THIS KERATOSIS BEING TREATED ON DR NEWMANS WEBSITE,,BUT WE HAVE A LOT TO THANK HIM FOR,,HES SUCH A WONDERFULL CARING DR,,JUST WISH WE HAD FOUND HIM YEARS AGO,, DR NEWMAN WERE THE ONE U GAVE THIS REDNESS A NAME,, AS FOR OVER 11 YEARS WE HAD SEARCHED FOR ANSWERS WHY R SON WERE BURNING UP IN HIS CHEEKS,,HOT ALL OVER, RED EARS ETC,,AND WE EVEN SAW SKIN SPECIALISTS IN MANCHESTER BEFORE DR NEWMAN,,AND THEY DIDNT KNOW WHAT IT WERE, ALL I CAN SAY IS VEINWAVE HAS HELPED MY SON SO MUCH, HIS CHEEKS HAVE GONE FROM DEEP RED,,TO A PINK COLOUR NOW,,DONT FLUSH UP MUCH ANY MORE,,MAYBE THE ODD FLARE UP EVERY NOW AND AGAIN,,I HOPE U ALL FIND THE TREATMENT AND HELP U DESERVE,, BEST WISHES,,ELLIE

i have the same problem, except the other way around. my face is burning when i wake up. This may sound stupid, but what i do is I hold an ice cube on my cheeks until the whole thing is melted. The redness is obviously still there but the fire is gone and i feel way more relaxed.

I have problems with the red cheeks, too. Always have someone commenting on my rosey cheeks, and bugging me to test my blood glucose because of it. Somewhere there was a thread asking about KP possibly being linked to hypothyroidism, and I personally do think there might be some sort of connection. I was recently diagnosed with what's called Willson's Temperature Syndrome(www.wilsonssyndrome.com), which is a form of hypothyroidism. I started treatment for it recently(week ago), and I've noticed a decrease in the redness and the KP with it already. Might be something to check into, do check out that site. But be warned, it is very difficult to find a doctor that will diagnose it.

wow people do post on the forum! I am a 26 year old uk male and have had rubra faceii since i was 15. As well as this i have palmer hyperhidrosis which is caused by an overactive sympathetic nervous system which also causes facial flushing..... a double whammy if you like (which as you can imagine i don't .
Anyway i believe the rubra faceii is mostly a follicular disorder (the hair on my face is largely undeveloped even now) and that laser treatments target vascular disorders like rosacea and facial blushing. I had three photofacial treatments in 2001 and did see some improvement but not much difference in flushing attacks associated with rubra faceii.
For me the flushing attacks (intense redness and burning as opposed to the slight red demarcation) occur in the early evening which relates to the body's bodyclock which at this time reaches it's highest temperature and therefore i overheat a bit like a car with a dodgy thermostat!
As far as relief goes well the problem has definately got better with age (late teens were a nightmare) but this may be due to my better understanding (what there is out there) of this condition. My advice would be to invest in better skincare, wash face regularly with good cleansers, moisturise with urea/salycylic acid creams. Drink lots of water. Use concealers like green creams. Also beta blockers and moxonidine help reduce severity of flushing attacks. Hope this helps. Hang on in there, the problem is this is quite a rare condition (rubra faceii) so there is little interest from dermatologists or the medical industry to research or find a cure on it. Maybe this will change.... lets hope so. peace to all

so Kpfr, ur facial hair has never developed?? what at all- i mean ur 6 years older than i am so i am curious about this subject. I am a 20 y/o male from the uk. I want them to find a cure for this bloody irritant before i go round the bend!!!

Hi Mark.It has developed but not as much as the rest of my body (chest, legs, etc) which suggests something to do with the follicles. I have quite developed hair under my chin and on the sides but on the cheeks where the redness occurs the hair is sparce. noone seems willing to research this condition though. I have hardly ever seen anyone else with it. Dermatologists do know about it though. I contacted the british asscociation of dermatologists and they said they had no plans to research the condition in the near future but would let me know if they did. I know how you feel mark, this is a frustrating and distressing condition but like you said it is an irritant. It doesn't affect our health or physical fitness so we have to be thankful at least for this. Noone wishes to have physical disabilities but it could be alot worse! hang on in there you never know a cure could be just round the corner

yeah they seem to be doing jack **** bout it, the condition that is. I have read all your posts and everything symptomwise that you have i have also got or suffer from at the same times. For example mine started at 16( i remember the day in fact!!) has got progressively worse and seems to flare up, usually on one cheek, at round 8-9 in the evening, which is prime time irritation.
back to the facial hair issue tho, u say its well developed but not on the cheeks- are you talking properly developed or just ok., beard quality or not? strange questions i know but im bloody touchy bout this and your the only one who seems to talk bout it!!
just out of interest, what part of the UK u from??
mark

I know its a bummer that there is no progress or info on this affliction. The hair under my chin and sideburns is like a normal beard pretty much. Around the mouth and cheeks it is alot less developed. Both our conditions started during puberty when the hormones change and you body and face begin to develop more hair. It is like something has interfered with this process on the cheeks and also really aggravated it. The burning and redness can occur on one cheek and spread to the other. I find that sometimes the redness and burning can occur in patches. You can feel it creeping up almost. Its a real pain too that it always seems to happen in the evening. My thoery on this is that as the body becomes more fatigued (later in the day) the more likely an attack will happen. i.e i am much more likely to have days without flushing at the weekend because i am less active.
I'm from the midlands.

yep- the patch thing is the same for me- actually happened last night- i rekon you have hit the nail on the head to be honest with you. Another thing i find frustrating is that when you search or inquire about KPRF you always get bloody info on KP not KPRF. and KP is nothing compared to KPRF absolutely nothing.
mark