Have you ever experienced the skin on the back of your upper arms becoming rough and bumpy? If it’s not painful or doesn’t look anything like acne on your body, you may have a completely different disease: keratosis pilaris.
To get all the answers about what keratosis pilaris is and how to treat it, we asked California-based dermatologist and dermatopathology dual board certified Aegean H. Chan, MD, FAAD, for expert advice.
“It’s not an unsanitary disease or a contagious disease. It’s just a genetic predisposition to how the skin forms and sheds calluses. It most often occurs on the back of the upper arms, but it can also occur on other parts of the body, such as the thighs, and rarely on the cheeks,” Dr. Chan said.
Thankfully, keratosis pilaris can be easily treated at home with products (like liquid exfoliants and body lotions) designed to unclog hair follicles and remove dead skin cells to make your skin look and feel smoother.
Ahead, Dr. Chan will provide everything you need to know about expert-approved products to treat keratosis pilaris, what triggers it, how to prevent it from happening again, and more.
