I went to a dermatologist and he denied the existance of ulerythema ophryogenes...stating that it was a bogus term someone made up. Clearly, doing a search on the net....he is wrong. Yet he's been practicing for 23 years! I am interested in speaking with dermatologists who have information about this disorder....have seen it before. Can you folks give me some names?

If you post where you live(state,country,etc.) you would have a better chance of finding a dermatoligist.

Ulerythema ophryongenes is not a very well known term. Most derms only know the term keratosis pilaris. Tell your derm that you have keratosis pilaris on your face.

The other thing I'm trying to find out is whether or not this condition is itchy. My eyebrows, bridge of my nose, and right above my eyebrows is EXTREMELY itchy. I spoke with another dermatologist who stated that KP isn't typically itchy....though I haven't seen him yet so he can tell me what he thinks my condition is. I'm using a steroid cream right now and it seems to just make it itch even more.

Yes - your eyebrows do itch. I am in my mid 40's and they still itch, but not as bad as they used to. Sorry I have not got any cure but it is something that I have not really looked at trying to get rid of. I have been concentrating on getting rid of the redness on my cheeks (atrophoderma vermiculata). I am due to have my second laser treatment next month. The first had good results but from medical journal articles on tests done it appears that 2-4 treatment may be required to remove the redness all together.

what is atrophoderma vermiculata? I have redness on my face starting on cheek bones all the way to my ears and down to my jawbone. No bumps or itching or anything. I do have kp on arms, legs, belly. Does this sound like it?

Did you lose all of your eyebrows? My son is 15 and has very sparse eyebrows. Will he lose all of them? Unfortunately, being male, he cannot pencil them in.

ive lossed all my eyebrows but they seem to be growing back a bit

Hi - atrophoderma Vermiculata (AV) is where the skin on the cheeks actually becomes pitted. The name itself means atrophy or wasting of the dermis in a symetrical way (i.e. each side of the face is effected) It is also know as honeycomb atrophy as the surface resembles a honeycomb with small craters in it. You may just have KP bumps on your face which is causing the redness so don't be alarmed. AV is not all that common. One encouraging thing I have found with normal KP is that it starts to fade in your thirty's and forty's.

Hi - I have never heard of anyone with UO loosing all their eyebrows. It is always the outer third. I am over 40 now and most of my eyebrow loss occurred in my early teens. I have had no more since. The central part of my eyebrows are completely uneffected but the outer third only have one of two strands of hair left in them. The area with no hair is red and scarred and I am going to have some pulse dyed laser treatment down next week on that area and also my cheeks. I will let you know how I get on.

I have an 11 year old son who is showing signs of eyebrow loss so am going to start researching if there is anyway to prevent this. Usually UO is not diagnosed until after the event and I have not found any medical journal articles that address how this hair loss from the hair follicules being destroyed can be prevented.

Thanks for the response. I guess everything is relative. I am thankful that he does not have the AV. Those with the KP on body should be happy they don't have it on face. And like I said, those on the face and no eyebrows should be happy they don't have AV. The derm told my son that he just has to live with it.

Unfortunately when you are a teenager you are very preoccupied in how you look. It is great your son has an accurate diagnosis and your support. Having a condition like this does make you strong on the inside as you have to realise that you are not just your 'face' and you develop other strengths in your life. When I was your son's age I was told that I was causing the condition and was put on Valium - so I am really glad that he has an accurate diagnosis already and this condition is not really known by a lot of dermatologist. Wishing you both all the best.

Anne, what happened with your second laser treatment??? Did they shave your brows like mine? Ironic isn't it that they take away the last few hairs I have....

Hi - no they didn't shave my eyebrows but he did tell me that as he was applying the laser to the outer part of my eyebrows some of the hair may get burnt. He said it was not a hair removing laser so any loss would not be permanent (laser used was the latest model v-beam pulse dye laser) Treatment was done in the first week of July so it has been over a month now. The redness has definately faded but I can still see some round 'laser bruises' on my cheeks so I am thinking the healing is still not complete. I have heard it can take months before the full effect is known so I can't really say yet what the the total improvement has been. My eyebrows don't seem to have lost any more hair and have lost some of the red scarred look they used to have. I have been around awhile and have had this conditon for just over 30 years. They only scientific medical journal articles I have found that report any treatment for this condition, as well as Atrophoderma vermiculata, state that pulse dye laser treatment is effective and also one article written by Professor Cunliffe (Leeds, England) says that Roaccutane (Isotretion) was effective in treating a patient. I have corresponded with Dr Cunliffe and tried this treatment but it was not helpful for me. I am therefore sticking with the laser treatment. My normal KP symptoms have disappeared as I got older but I am still left with the scarring effects of UO and AV. Unfortunately it takes several laser treatments to get optimum results - this is only my second one. I know that several people who post here have had laser treatments but as there are so many types of lasers and varying skill levels of those who use them it is hard to know which laser they used. The pulse dye laser is the only one recommended for red lesions.