Hi, my 14 month old son was just diagnosed with KP today by the dermatologist. Two months ago he started out with flesh colored bumps on cheeks and above knees and later it also spread to his arms and his legs. Soon, it turned red and now the cheeks especially get red and inflamed (sometimes there is a pimply spot here and there too) due to all the drooling. Was not too surprised as to the diagnosis but very unhappy with the answers I got by the doctor. She did not seem concerned or cared much about it. I asked a lot of questions and pretty much was told it should get better with age. The things I am concerned with are his age and his cheeks in terms of treatment. I don't want to use something too harsh because of his age and realize that tender cheeks are different than arms and legs. Want to get some advice from other moms who have gone through it.

What I got out of the doctor was to use hydrocortisone 1% cream for cheeks only when they were especially red. For the arms and legs I was told to use Lacticare Lotion (5% I believe) and to call her in the future to tell her how he was doing. Reading some of the other posts I am a little afraid. I was under the impression from her that the lotion helped to exfoliate but did not realize it has other ingredients and to be careful as to how long and how much to use it. She told me that if his cheeks tolerated it to put the lotion on his cheeks too.

Coming online I see other mom's using oils and other more natural stuff. My main concern is to get his cheeks presentable (since it is the first thing everyone sees and I have yet been unable to get him in for his birthday photos) and to get the other areas under control. Any ideas? Yes or no on what I was advised to do? Thoughts about his sensitive cheeks area?

I want to go get some more info from another dermatologist, a pediatric one. My first choice doctor did not have an open appointment for two more months (I recently found out that he was voted top three in this area so now I see why he is so busy). I want someone more understanding and someone who will talk to me more whereas my husband says they will tell me the same thing. Good idea/bad idea?

Sorry this is so long but I am pretty desperate to help my son. Thanks!

Hi,
When my daughters first was bad, like your childs, she was in preschool. She was not diagnosed with this until she was a teen, but we noticed that this acted up during growth spurts. At the time her pediatrician thought this was hormones and she prescribed us to use cortisone cream also. At this point my daughter mainly had this on her arms and a couple of spots on her cheeks. The cortisone did clear her up quickly but I will add, this is not to be used constantly. Its not good to use this stuff every single day.

I have gone the dermatologist route and my experience with that was both good and bad. It is hard to find something that works for your child. At first we were told to try this or that by prescription, but towards the end of her appts. with this man he kept adding stuff and then he made a mistake, and we found out that for 1 yr of this mess he had her using medicine creams on her arms, one a drying cream, one a moisturizing cream, and it actually made her skin condition WORSE. He tried to say it was me who did the screw up but when he reviewed his tapes it was him. He did this in front of us, reviewing his tapes, and he ended up a very ****ed man, I am sure it embarrassed him. That was our last visit with him. I took notes at her appts on how to use the creams, etc. I trusted him, he screwed up. So, for one year I spent close to $150 every six-eight weeks on stuff that at the end of the day made her skin even worse. My advice, take notes. Ask for samples from your doctor or derm before you buy. A 2nd opinion would also be good. Could it possibly be an allergy to something?

Right now my daughter uses a coconut oil cream on her arms. We have also used jojobo oil, sweet almond oil, epilpt from Walmart is over the counter. These have had some fantastic results!! Now, I will add, my daughter has this on her face and this part has been quite the battle. Since she is older we've had to use other things as she also battles with acne. So, for her face, no natural oils, but for your son, it would not hurt to try. We have been doing the oil bit since we left that dermatologist. Her skin is nice and soft now and though she still has some bumps, its not like it was before. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Best of luck
Molmom

JacobsMommy- if you go to a pediatric derm, please let me know what he says. We live in a very small town and have a family dr. so I don't have direct access to a ped. derm. I am so sorry for our plight- our babes are too young for this!!

Catherine
Charlie 3-27-02
Madeline 6-29-04

This was last year and I have since been to a ped dermatologist. He was nice enough but it appears that kp is something they don't do much about. He had told me what I was doing at home was good and to contact him if it got worse. I was also given a steroid cream for the redness if it got bad. That was it. So it appears that I got much more from the moms online and by my own trial and error on what works on my child.

Please do read up on what some of the moms have suggested on the mom's section regarding what to use on your child. All I can say is my child (who is now two) and his kp are very much under control compared to when he was first diagnosed.

Good luck.