Rough bumps
on your upper arms
Keratosis pilaris is a harmless and often hereditary skin condition. The bumps can lessen over the years, but they do not disappear on their own in everyone.
We treat it with peels and targeted care that dissolve the build-up of keratin. Scrubbing does not work here: the plugs sit around the hair follicle and not at the surface.
What the skin therapist
looks at
Keratin build-up and dry skin look alike and ask for different treatments. These are the three things the skin therapist tells them apart by.
How the bumps feel
Keratin build-up feels like fine sandpaper and sits fixed in the pore. Dryness feels rough, but rubs away.
Whether it is on both sides
Keratosis pilaris is almost always symmetrical. If it is on one side or on shaved areas, it is something else.
How it runs across the year
Clearer in winter and calmer in summer fits keratin build-up. With dryness it virtually disappears in summer.
Four pictures that
feel rough
Keratin build-up, dryness and ingrown hairs feel almost the same under your hand. Where it sits and whether it is symmetrical makes the difference.
Rough bumps on your upper arms
keratosis pilaris- How you recognise it yourself
- Does a large area feel like sandpaper, are the bumps close together, and is it roughly the same on both arms?
- What it is
- Keratin build-up around the hair follicles: a plug of horny cells forms above each hair. Harmless, largely hereditary, and in many people it lessens over the years.
- What we do
- Gradually making the top layer suppler and the plugs looser, at a pace your skin can handle. Maintenance belongs with it; this is not a course with an end point.
Keratin build-up around the hair follicles. Not curable, but it can be made suppler and less red, with the maintenance that belongs to it.
Then this is not your page.
Bumps in shaved areas with a dark curl beneath are ingrown hairs. That is a different indication and a different treatment.
What helps and what we advise against
This is a condition that comes with maintenance. With a series of treatments and the right care you keep it calm.
This works
- Saying honestly that this cannot be cured, and what can be done instead
- Making the top layer suppler gradually, at a pace the skin can handle
- Maintenance you can keep up yourself, because without it the picture returns
- Tackling the redness separately, because it often bothers people more than the bumps themselves
- Taking into account that it is worse in winter; that is not a relapse but the season
We advise against this
- Scrubbing. The plugs sit around the hair follicle and not at the surface; you only make the redness worse
- Squeezing or picking. That leaves you with dark marks and sometimes dents
- Presenting a course of treatment as a definitive solution. Keratosis pilaris usually asks for lasting care and maintenance.
- Promising that the skin becomes smooth. Suppler and less red is realistic
- Treating it as acne. There is no inflammation and no bacterium in it
Frequently asked questions
Does goose-bump skin ever go away?
A cure is not possible, but in many people it lessens on its own over the years, often from around thirty. In the meantime the picture can be softened. That is not a pretty story, and it is the honest one.
Why does scrubbing not work?
Because the keratin build-up sits around the hair follicle and not at the surface. So you scrub over the bumps rather than into them. What you do achieve is more redness and a damaged barrier.
Does it come from something I am doing?
No. It is largely hereditary and it has nothing to do with hygiene, food or how you care for your skin.
Why is it worse in winter?
Cold air and indoor heating dry the skin out, and drier skin makes the keratin build-up more visible and rougher. In almost everyone it is less in summer. That is the season and not a relapse.
What does this cost?
That depends on the treatment that suits your skin, and we work that out at the consultation. The consultation costs 50 euros; if you have a treatment in the same appointment, that amount comes off again. You then hear straight away how many sessions it takes and what the total will be. Every price per treatment is published on the price page.
What we establish first
For most people the most useful outcome is that it has a name, is harmless and is not their fault. What can be softened besides that, we discuss in the same conversation.
Book a consultationNot sure yet? Ask your questionPhoto at the top: Irja, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.