Pro-Sports

A little while back I wrote about a skin condition I had called Keratosis Pilaris and how my symptoms seem to have gotten worse again.  I had thought perhaps the worsening of my symptoms might be related to either the switch in my diet or the changes in hormones I’d recently experienced during the pregnancy and after the delivery.

Since it has been quite a while since the dermatologist made the diagnosis on my skin, I thought I’d scour the web to see if there were any new treatment developments for this skin problem.  It seems most sites still maintain that there isn’t really any treatment available to sufferers of Keratosis Pilaris, however there are recommendations on what an individual with the condition can do.

The least aggressive suggested would be to apply an emollient onto the affected areas and avoid the use of agents that could cause irritation, such as soaps.  Although the term emollient is used interchangeably with moisturisers, there is a difference.  An emollient softens the skin while a moisturiser adds moisture.

An emollient has three properties:

1. Occlusion - provides a layer of oil on the surface of the skin to reduce water loss
2. Humectant - which increases the water-holding capacity of the top layer of the skin called the stratum corneum
3. Lubrication - adds a slip or glide across the skin

Now it dawns upon me why my skin has worsened over the last few months and I don’t think it was related to the hormones or the change in diet.  Prior to the pregnancy, I used to have only one shower a day using moisturising shower gels and I would also moisturise after every shower.  As the pregnancy progressed, I got lazy and stopped moisturising after my shower.  With the pregnancy, I was also sweating all the time, so I started having two showers a day and sometimes three.  It would seem that all the washing and lack of moisturising has had rather deleterious effects on my skin. 

Popularity: 11% [?]

Ever since I was a kid, I have had a skin problem that was diagnosed by the dermatologist to be Keratosis Pilaris (see picture). According to the dermatologist, it is a benign condition that appears on the dorsal surfaces of the body, particularly the arms, legs and cheeks. It is apparently an inherited condition and it seems my mother has a mild case of it. The dermatologist also said that it was more prevalent in people affected by hay fever.

Although the condition doesn’t need to be treated, some people opt for treatment because it’s aesthetically unappealing to walk around like a freshly plucked chicken. The dermatologist offered some creams for me to try but said that nothing has really been proven to get rid of it.

Since I was quite young at the time, I wasn’t really bothered by it. I wasn’t into aesthetics so I elected not to do anything about it. Additionally, the dermatologist said it would improve as I got older. What he neglected to tell me was that in 20% of patients, it gets worse. Now that I’m three decades old, I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m part of the 20%.

When I became a Vegetarian, I noticed some improvement of my skin. Although it didn’t completely go away, it no longer got inflamed. When I became pregnant, I started eating meat again and my skin got worse. I can only conclude that it is partly affected by my diet although there is no scientific evidence to support this. Alternatively, it could also be affected by hormones - although there is nothing to support this either.

It seems to have gotten worse, especially on my legs, so I have been tempted to get a second opinion from another dermatologist. Hmmm… am I getting vain in my old age?

Popularity: 9% [?]