Stop The Pain And Get To Know The Treatment For Keratosis Pilaris
Keratosis A Skin Disorder Associated With Eczema
Keratosis pilaris, or simply KP, is a medically harmless skin disorder associated with eczema, that results from build up of keratin. It normally presents as numerous small, rough, red bumps that occur mainly around hair follicles on the legs, upper arms, buttocks, and sometimes on the cheeks. Its more common in children than in adults. With no known cure, treatment for keratosis pilaris is mainly dependent on regular temporary measures of skin care lubrication.
There are many lotions and creams that people use to try and treat this disorder. However, there is no one universally effective treatment, and these different lotions and creams vary in their effect from one person to another. Generally, all one needs to do is to avoid getting very dry skin.
Treatment involves application of gentle acids to the skin to soften the keratin. These acids include lactic acid, glycolic acid, urea and sometimes retinoids. Frequent skin lubrication is the main idea behind most of its treatment. However, a combination therapy, using physical gentle exfoliation, manual extraction, facials, chemical peels and microdermabrasion with use of topical products may be used to bring more effectiveness.
Mild cases of this disorder can be improved using over the counter moisturizers such as Lubriderm and Cetaphil lotions. For the more complex ones, there are some mixed ‘designer’ combinations of lubricants and acids forming all-in-one creams. These creams applied once or twice a day help to decrease the residual dry rough bumps.
It is advisable to wash the affected area once or twice a day with a gental wash like Dove or Cetaphil. Lotions should be gently applied to the affected areas two to three times a day. If an area is irritated or has abraded skin, it should be treated only with bland moisturizers until the inflammation recedes.
Fading creams may be used to treat persistent skin discoloration. A compounding pharmacist may also formulate a special compounded cream for particularly resistant skin color discoloration.
A typical sample treatment procedure for this disorder, in its mild stage, should be as follows: One should wash the affected area with Glysal cleanser once a day. Then he should pat the skin dry after which he should apply Salex or AmLactin lotion in morning. You then also apply tazarotene (Tazorac) or tretinoin (Retin-A) cream every other night. Finally, one should get a monthly microdermabrasion and glycolic treatment with physician. Please note that this is just a sample treatment procedure.
It is important to note, though, that many of these creams and lotions have been used over time without consistent results. It is therefore, important to have the right mind set right from the start, and not to have very huge expectations. Remember, there is no cure for this skin disorder.
Long Term Therapy Is Part Of The Treatment And Can Be Costly
Because this disorder is generally a chronic condition requiring long-term maintenance, most therapies would require repeated or long-term use for optimum results. That said, treatment for keratosis pilaris is not a straight procedure. It is more of a trial and error kind of a treatment. What may work for one person, may not be as effective for another. The good thing is that although it may be cosmetically unpleasant, it is medically harmless.
