talkhealth forums

I have lots of spots on my upper arms which looks and feels like keratosis pilaris, which suddenly appeared at the age of 43 after a time of great stress and probable dehydration. Sometimes it shows excessively and sometimes it doesn’t, but it always feels very bumpy and the spots are usually small whiteheads or red spots.

I have tried exfoliating and using special shower gels, but these just made my skin peel from excessive dryness. For several months I have been using Eucerin 10% cream every day, which doesn’t help either.

Any tips? Many thanks!

V. S.

KP is very common, affecting approximately 1/3 people, more so if you or your family members have a history of eczema or related allergic conditions. Unfortunately there is no cure for the condition. Treatments are based on improving skin texture/reducing inflammation (if there is any). if urea based creams haven’t worked on you I would suggest trying creams containing alternative keratolytic ingredients such as lactic acid eg Amlactam.
Physical exfoliation eg using a pumice stone/loofah sponge can sometimes aggravate the redness so I would suggest doing this very gently and only 1-2 per week max.