Hello all,

I haven't posted in a long time, but if you see my previous posts you will see I have managed to get my KPRF easily manageable. The most essential elements of my routine are:

SSRIs: There has been much debate and anecdotal evidence, and I have found it to allow me to completely control flushing. I will not discuss this further because this is a pescription medication and can potentially be very dangerous, you must consult a doctor.

Dr Nick Lowes Redness Relief: This is a highly advanced moisturiser design to reduce facial redness, and it really works wonders.


I have recently discovered something by accident which appears to greatly reduce surface redness of facial skin (nothing to do with flushing, just the constant tone of the skin of the cheeks): Green tea extract. I noticed a marked improvement in reduction of the constant redness of the cheeks caused by KPRF. I have found a scientific study which may support this:

Green Tea Linked To Skin Cell Rejuvenation

I don't fully understand the mechanics of how it works, but it could be helpful to us because the active ingredient in green tea (EGCG) has the ability to reactive keratinocytes (skin cells).

If anyone is out there who is suffering and are willing to try green tea extract out and post their results, it could potentially be very useful. Don't forget this will not reduce flushing, but the reduction of general redness over the cheeks. I take roughly 200mg 4 times a day, but be very careful, always read the label carefully. Ensure you get high quality green tea extract from a brand with a good reputation.

as a side note, green tea in theory would help in all aspects of keratosis pilaris, not just KPRF, and I have noticed the back my arms have really cleared up.


Something else to mention also is that all of my recent improvements could simply be because I am "growing out" of the condition as I leave my teenage years.


You can check my previous post here for more information about how I stopped my KPRF:

How I gained control of my KPRF so its basically unnoticeable

Hi fadeout. It's always great to hear that someone is having success! happy for you man
got a few questions for you:

I just started taking effexor xr (an SNRI) due to generalized anxiety that i've developed. I tried paxil which was horrible, then tried cymbalta but didnt see too much improvement. Just curious, what SSRI are you taking?

Thats really interesting about the green tea extract! This is definitely something to consider... how long have you been taking it? and what brand do you use?

Also, you said it might be your aging that is helping you, what age are you?

peace,
Matt

I am taking venlofaxine. I use the myprotein brand green tea extract, been taking it about a week, but I discovered this a couple of a months ago while drinking 5/6 servings of green tea a day. I am 23.

Thanks so much for the reply fadeout.
Cool I am also on venlofaxine. Did you experience increased flushing when u first started it?? or worse redness? also how high is your dose? ..i just bumped up to 112.5 mg a day from 75 mg
sorry for all the questions,
matt

didnt experience increased flushing, no worse redness, 75mg will stop the flushing for a couple of hours straight after taking.

Bump. Is anyone willing to try my green tea extract routine a try to reduce their general (non flushing) redness? If you do, please post how you get on in this thread.

fadeout

I saw your post so I thought I'd give the green tea extract a whirl since I've tried everything else. The stuff I bought is the Organika brand and on the bottle it says to take 1 300mg capsule per day. I'll try that for a bit and maybe up the dosage to 2\day if I don't notice any improvements.

Is there any way to tell the diffrence between redness from blushing and facial redness? I notice that I don't really blush anymore. My face is almost always cool but my face redness tone tends to change from mild to severe.

Thanks TheRalex, I use a bit more than that but I welcome all input (remember its the overall reduction of redness tone, not flushing I experienced), let us know how it goes.

Red, I suppose the main difference is that obvious "flushed" feeling you get when being embarrassed/hot. So maybe when your just in a room by yourself and not being affected by external forces, the general tone of your skin when not in a flush/lush would be the facial redness/tone which I found a reduction with the green tea extract.

Do you think the Neutrogena Wave will get rid of surface redness. I herd the surfice redness is caused from excess keratin in the skin. And keratin is basically dead skin. The Neutrogena Wave has a very soft exploilator pad that is for sensitive skin plus they use the same acid stuff in the pads that doctors percribes to loosen KP plugs. Not to mention since it vibrates it should have greater results then regular cleansing or topical solutions. Im thinking of trying this but the only reason that I havent started yet is because Im trying to schedual laser hair removal because my face hair grows extreamly fast and I think the hair will screw up the results.

Glycerin, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, PEG 8, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Decyl Glucoside, Lauryl Methyl Gluceth 10 Hydroxypropyl Dimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Citric Acid, Salicylic Acid, Menthol, Fragrance

doesn't look like a KPRF friendly list of ingredients.. salicylic acid is good for general skin types, but it always irritated my kprf facial skin

Well salicylic acid is perscribed for KPRF. And they say it smooth your skin. I manage to control most of my flushing except for my neck. But do you think it will help?

I tried it once and it irritated my facial skin.. for general KP bumps on arms etc its good but the skin is much more sensitive.. but who knows it could work for you, everyones different.

This has nothing to with with the topic, but I've been using a product with AHA acids for less than a week by now. It's considered stronger than most AHA containing products, for its 15% concentration.
I can't tell for sure if it's working. I'm using it on only one cheek, the other is my control. There is maybe a little difference already, but nothing visible in daily life. No irritation, no extra redness...
It's NeoStrata AHA 15%, if anybody wants to try it out.

Thanks for sharing philipp. good luck i hope it works for you, i personally have given up creams as ive tried wayy too many and im just leaving my skin alone for now.

How is the green tea extract working Fadeout??
i gonna buy some asap, because i know they have many other great health benefits anyway if they don't help kprf, like boosting your immune system and givng you more energy.
Have you noticed any positives besides the obvious?