A Question About Keratosis Pilaris

March 6, 2011 10:01 PM

My understanding is that keratosis pilaris essentially is keratin plugs of my hair follicles. Were I to treat my keratosis pilaris with one of the various suggested treatments, would hair grow from the unplugged follicles?
posted by WCityMike to health & fitness (5 answers total)

I can't think of why the hair wouldn't grow from the follicles if you unplugged them. There are frequently ingrown hairs in the bumps to begin with.
posted by Logic Sheep at 10:21 PM on March 6, 2011

FYI, most treatments are pretty temporary and provide mostly just a cosmetic improvement. I only bothered to treat mine right before my wedding so my upper arm would look nicer in photos. If extra hair grew in as a result I didn't notice it. The "home" remedies (using lotions with milk proteins and gently exfoliating is the only one I can think of right now) mostly just reduce the redness and help with exfoliation, they don't do much about the underlying issue.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:28 AM on March 7, 2011

The hairs that get trapped (if you get one open, you'll often find a hair coiled up around the keratin plug) are typically of the peach-fuzz variety.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:48 AM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

What I've read of KP treatments is that they essentially moisturize the skin so as to reduce the bumpy feeling KP causes. None "unplug" the follicles, so far as I know. But theoretically, yes, a hair would grow from an unplugged follicle.
posted by LN at 8:13 AM on March 7, 2011

My KP bumps usually have hairs in them if I bother picking at them. (I really shouldn't.) Like bookdragoness says, they're usually small & fine-textured.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:49 AM on March 7, 2011