Tanning bed for keratosis pilaris?

[Anonymous]

Have you tried Paula's Choice 2% BHA body treatment? That before bed and stridex pads in the morning helped mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for a discussion about this!

I tanned a lot during college, really too, too much in my experience, going about four times a week for 20 minutes each time.

Then I migrated towards the various spray tans.

Now though, I'm in my late 30s, and haven't been to a tanning bed in well over a decade. I don't really get out in the sun at all anymore either.

In the last year or so, I've developed KP REALLY badly on the tops of my thighs, upper arms and forearms. Since I'm so pale now, it's very noticeable and I sort of wear long sleeves rolled up to about my wrists and never, ever shorts. Of course, that probably compounds the issue of not getting enough sun exposure!

The last year has been a revolving experiment with various exfoliants, scrubs, moisturizers, creams, etc. Nothing has worked at all.

I've tried the Cerave for bumpy skin but really all that does is makes the skin smooth.

I assumed perhaps it was clogged follicles, so I tried Nair on one of my thighs just to see if it would work. Nothing changed.

I've tried various tea tree oil mixtures, glycolic wipes (the strongest I could find on Amazon) and even went through a course of doxycycline (for an unrelated rash on my hand) but that didn't lessen the appearance of the KP at ALL.

I tried a home seaweed bath (yeah, that was fun), various vinegar bath mixtures, a bleach bath, those trends exfoliating gloves.

NOTHING.

So now that it's summer where I am, my last resort is to go back to the tanning bed after a decade! I've been trying to hold out and not go, but I never had any form of KP-like bumps while I was going previously. In fact, I always received compliments about the evenness of my skin tone!

Derms prescribe phototherapy a lot now, so we'll see how it works. I'm going to start with lliterally like maybe a minute or two in the lowest bed, but don't plan on exceeding 5 minutes or so.

Would that be sufficient? Any ideas? I don't want to get up to 20 minutes four times a week again. That seems a little excessive.

I'll definitely be wearing heavy sunblock on my face and neck area this go around but really am optimistic that it will help some with the KP.

Phototherapy as a dermatology treatment is not the same as a tanning bed. The concept of U/V rays tends to be oversimplified; long story short, the form of U/V ray matters.

Applying the Retin-A prescribed for my face a few times a week and microdermabrasion helped address mine.

[Anonymous]

Fellow sufferer. Sadly, the only thing that has helped me was also using tanning beds in college and early 20s, but I have not been in 10 years.

The consistent thing I have read is that exfoliating can actually exacerbate the issue. My 3 yo has it on her arms too and I hate she will suffer with it when she is older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. For the last six weeks I’ve made a purpose to lay out for 10-20 minutes on each side depending on the UV index. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever done this. I’ve gotten a shade or two darker (and a lot more freckled 🙁) but my KP is so much better, and not just masked from the tan. It’s improved but still there on my arms and all but disappeared on most of my legs, thighs, and butt. Not only that, but ingrown hairs on my legs are much better. I always have unsightly bumps from ingrown hairs after shaving or waxing but it’s been much less of an issue this summer. I’m happy but at the same time kind of bummed that the best treatment is damaging and not sustainable for me long term. It was a fun experiment and I’m enjoying being tanned for right now but it’s not worth the long term UV damage and cancer risk to continue.

What I don’t understand is whether it’s simply finally getting enough vitamin D or some other aspect of the UV exposure. If it’s the former, surely there is a way to achieve it via supplements, right?

You can buy 50,000 iU supplements on the internet; this is what my doc recommends (once a week).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. For the last six weeks I’ve made a purpose to lay out for 10-20 minutes on each side depending on the UV index. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever done this. I’ve gotten a shade or two darker (and a lot more freckled 🙁) but my KP is so much better, and not just masked from the tan. It’s improved but still there on my arms and all but disappeared on most of my legs, thighs, and butt. Not only that, but ingrown hairs on my legs are much better. I always have unsightly bumps from ingrown hairs after shaving or waxing but it’s been much less of an issue this summer. I’m happy but at the same time kind of bummed that the best treatment is damaging and not sustainable for me long term. It was a fun experiment and I’m enjoying being tanned for right now but it’s not worth the long term UV damage and cancer risk to continue.

What I don’t understand is whether it’s simply finally getting enough vitamin D or some other aspect of the UV exposure. If it’s the former, surely there is a way to achieve it via supplements, right?

You can buy 50,000 iU supplements on the internet; this is what my doc recommends (once a week).

You can also get them Rx, which is much, much safer.

[Anonymous]

I also have it everywhere and the most success I’ve had is with Turkish microdermabrasion gloves. They sell them on Amazon.

[Anonymous]

I wish I would talk to out of it but I’ve been going weekly for the part month and my skin my kp I mean is SO SO MUCH BETTER. my skin texture is so soft and the kp is almost fully gone away. I don’t know why that is but it works!

Anonymous wrote:I’ve hesrd UV exposure can treat keratosis pilaris. Mine is bad right now on my arms and thighs and butt and all the lotions and exfoliant aren’t cutting it.

I’m torn. I used to tan in high school a little bit. I’m super pale and it only ever made me more freckles. I lived in Alaska so it was just a relaxing warm after school thing that a lot of girls did, but I really regret it and have even gone so far to say that they should be illegal! But I’m really curious if it will help my bumpy skin. I was thinking I would cover my face and chest with a towel.

Not worth it right?? Talk me out of it!

[Anonymous]

No one on this thread has mentioned skin cancer and melanoma. I believe it's because no one who is willing to indoor tan wants to admit to the scary fact that you are willing to *dramatically* increase your risk of skin cancer for vanity. If you are willing to risk skin cancer to improve your KP, then you should talk to your dermatologist about it first. Also, think about what having skin cancer will mean to your children. Having had cancer myself, as a mother, that is just about the worst thing that you can imagine upon your family. And yet, here you are, playing Russian roulette knowing full well that tanning beds significantly increase your risk of developing melanomas. Why? It's like driving drunk. Chances are you'd be fine, but why chance it when the consequences could be deadly?

Your money is far better spent seeing a dermatologist who can prescribe stronger lotions and even peels, rather than increasing your risk of skin cancer. The vast, vast majority of melanomas found in young women are highly correlated with indoor tanning practices. KP is annoying and unsightly, but skin cancer is potentially deadly. I hope that you are all very carefully weighing your pros and cons here.

[Anonymous]

Glytone products are high quality without being crazy expensive. Use codes to get % off.

https://www.glytone.com/kp-kit

[Anonymous]

The only thing that has helped my KP is aging. It's faded away and gotten less noticeable as I approach middle age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that has helped my KP is aging. It's faded away and gotten less noticeable as I approach middle age.

I keep reading about how most people grow out of it, but mine has gotten worse the last decade. 40 M.

[Anonymous]

If you can take the smell, try a sulphur cleanser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IS1GGC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

absolute MAGIC. my KP went away with this.

SAME!!!! I fought it on my arms for 15 years and this did the trick. I have to use it for about a week or so every few months and then it disappears again