i'm 18, i've been struggling with kp for all of high school and middle school, i have it on my arms, butt, hips and outer thigh. i've been to 3 dermatologists, and all of them have either misdiagnosed me or given me weak medicines. i figured i would share the good, the bad and the unknown in terms of "cures"

Good:

like everyone else has said, the sun helps a lot, not only to cover up the red spots, but to smooth out the bumps too. so my suggestion is to find a private corner in your backyard and tan naked for 30 mins every other day, and read a book or something to occupy your mind. even if your pale, put on some strong sunblock and just soak in some uv light. i really think its a good cure for kp. it helped me a lot last summer until our neighbor walked by one day.

i cant emphasize enough how much moisturizing helps, and being really diligent about it too. im trying the glytone kp set right now and its pretty effective at smoothing out the texture, but not so much for pigmentation.

another thing is exfoliation. i've used a lot of exfoliants in the past. kp duty worked OKAY, i've been using it for a year now until i decided it wasn't working well enough and i needed to change my regimen. so now i use this glytone kit, and it helps more than the kp duty because its not as rough so my skin stays healthier.

diet-- dermatologists have told me that diet is completely unrelated to skin, but thats a lie. i can tell from experience that if you cut out fast foods, and even just dairy and wheat products, as difficult as that may be, it makes a significant difference in your skin.

exercise-- i'm definately not an athlete, but when i did swimming last season, i noticed that my kp got a lot better, and my school has an indoor pool too, so it wasn't sunlight fixing my skin. i stopped exercising after the season ended though, and its gotten worse.

Bad:

so my first dermatologist prescribed me amlactin, and not only was it ineffective, but it smelled like shiit and it has a weird texture. the last dermatologist i had prescribed salex, and that smelled even worse. both of these i used for at least a year, and every night before bed too, and they really didn't help at all.

dermadoctor kp duty was also pretty ineffective. i used it for a really long time (almost two years) because it kind of went in and out in terms of fixing kp, but then i realized that my kp was changing because of sun exposure and not the product.

PICKING IS VERY VERY BAD!! DONT PICK!! once in a while i give in when i'm feeling really insecure about my kp, but i always end up regretting it because it leaves a scab for a couple weeks and then a scar after that. you have to force yourself to occupy your fingers with something more productive, or just think about how nasty it would look if you were covered in scabs.


To be continued:
just recently, i've decided to try the sea buckthorn method, so i'll let you know if its promising. i haven't started yet though.

i'm also scheduled to meet with a new dermatologist, and hopefully try some cosmetic procedures to help with the scars and the redness. its expensive, so i haven't decided if i'm going through with it yet, but i'm going in for a consultation soon.


SOME DAY, SCIENTISTS WILL FIGURE IT OUT AND WE WON'T HAVE TO TRY ALL THESE CRAZY SCHEMES. but until then, these techniques should help!!

Hey Freddie -
Thanks for posting this. I am 22, and I had KP all through high school too. My advice to you, however trite and obvious it may sound, is to not care as much. Obviously keep up with all your regimens, because that is what keeps us KP having hope and control over the skin disorder, but just know that every single person has their own insecurities.
You are right, high school boys suck and most wouldn't be understanding of things they find to be "imperfections" - especially if you have very obvious KP. But just know that you were right when you said you don't want to look back as a shriveled old lady who never had her youth. If you let some of the anxiety about your KP go, less people will notice it, and you will feel better about yourself in general.
As I said, every single person has their own flaws and insecurities - that horrible guy that left 30 seconds after he hooked up with you - well you can't be positive what he was thinking. Maybe it had nothing to do with your KP at all. Even if it did, know that he isn't perfect either. I'm sure he had some pretty embarrassing flaws too, but you just didn't get to see them.

You seem like a very intelligent girl. Once you get to college, I promise it will be better. Look into liberal arts colleges, where people are more accepting of everyone. Geez, where I went to college, people with a LOT worse off aesthetic "problems" than KP found people to hook up with, and love as well. High school can be hard - everyone is constantly insecure (no matter how much they pretend not to be) and all are very quick to judge each other so that they're not the one being judged themselves. I've found that college is a lot more laid back - people aren't so quick to judge and are more open and understanding.

Okay, I'm totally rambling now and I'm exhausted (after a long night last night...) and I don't think any of this post even made sense. But when I read your posts, I really connected to you for some reason. You reminded me a lot of myself a few years ago and I just wanted to give you some insight and advice. I am still really conscious, at times, of my KP, but I am a successful actress and model - and it's usually only the times that I am super self-conscious about it that other people notice it as well.
Weird how that works, huh?

Anyway, yeah. Just thought I'd say hang in there; it will get better.