For as long as I can remember, I have been plagued with a red bumpy rash on the back of both of my arms along with an occasional flare up on my back (see photo below). Since I was in high school, I have seen a variety of doctors and been prescribed an array of topical steroid creams. The steroid creams always helped to clear up the rash but were not meant for long term use. Plus, they had the downside of increased sun sensitivity and, well, the obvious issue of spreading steroids on myself.
In the fall of 2007 I saw a new doctor and was finally given a name for this persistent rash – keratosis pilaris. With this newfound information, I was now able to consult my dear friend google. I spent many hours scouring the internet for remedies and found advice pointing to creams containing urea, lactic acid, salicylic acid, tar and retinoid. No luck. There was also the completely unsuccessful investment of time and money on tanning at the local tanning salon. Oh, and I have tried every type of laundry soap and fabric softener that I could find.
About a year ago, my husband went 100% paleo. I was pregnant at the time, so I spent about 9 months kind of dabbling and doing my best to support him without fully buying in. But, once our adorable baby girl was born, my aversion to meat subsided and I was full on paleo and enjoying it! The choice to go paleo was not really due to any major health concerns or even for weight loss because after a year of dabbling and research, I just knew it was the healthy choice to make. It never dawned on me that it might affect my skin.
In fact, keratosis pilaris was so far from my mind when I started paleo that a few weeks in—when I noticed the improvement in my skin (see below)—I couldn’t figure out what had changed: my body or my environment. After a bit of thought and some research, I discovered that this condition is often linked to both gluten and casein intolerance.
Right now, it looks as though the paleo diet has put my keratosis pilaris into complete remission. This means no more tanning beds, steroid creams or desperate home remedies. I cannot wait to see what other pleasant surprises paleo might have for me!
That’s awesome! I will have to pass this on to some relatives that have a rash similar to yours on their arms…
Congrats on your newly glowing skin!! I have PK too, and it’s much better than it used to be, especially when my diet’s well dialed in and I’m doing regular doses of omega-3s. And surprise, surprise, my new primary care physician happens to agree with you – she said the PK’s clearing up is due to my elimination of gluten and dairy.
Me too! I had the same gross rash on the fronts of my thighs. I’d tried many different things; exfoliating more, exfoliating less, avoiding shaving, creams with urea, etc. I went Paleo in March, and shortly thereafter noticed that most of it was gone! A few months in now, and my legs looks respectable with no more weird red bumps!
I had a similar experience with clearing my keratosis pilaris after going paleo! It is one of the “proofs” I use when telling others of the diet! 10 years wasted trying products that didn’t work, then 3 months paleo and it was 95% gone!
My Bonus Daughter has had a smiliar rash on her arms for YEARS. I’m going to ask her pediatrician if it could be also be PK. I’m hoping that by going Paleo, she will lose weight AND the rash will resolve.
Exact same experience.
Had KP for 35+ years: chronically on back of arms, sides of torso, and back of legs.
Tried everything. Nothing worked. Prednisone, topical steroids and phototherapy helped control my severe psoriasis, but had no effect on KP.
Within a couple of months of very strict autoimmune protocol Paleo, the KP was completely 100% gone [as was the psoriasis, and the DH – dermatitis herpetiformis].
I’ve been Paleo now for 2+ yrs, and after having been plagued by these skin conditions for most of my life, it’s hard for me to even remember what it was like. Your post helped remind me how lucky I was to stumble upon Robb’s blog. Changed my life.
I love this post, but I’m skeptical. I was told this is a genetic issue so controlling it with diet (epigentics?) is effective only to a point. Genes are on or off, right? It went away for me without any diet modification or interventions.
I had this as a kid and into young womanhood. It came and went and I was told it was genetic and will flare up and go away. It went away for good in my early 20s. My daughter, who is 9, has it and it comes and goes on the upper arms and face. It is a build up of keratin although it looks like tiny whiteheads. An allergist diagnosed her with keratoses pilaris. We skipped the creams and let it ride. She doesn’t seem to mind.
I didn’t know the link w/gluten and casein and am intrigued.
Thank you for posting this hard-won information. I truly appreciate it.
That’s awesome that so many people have conquered their KP with Paleo. Unfortunately for me, 7 months of strict Paleo have not helped my Keratosis Pilaris at all.
Robb’s latest podcast talks a bit about KP with the conclusion that it may be insulin-response based, but I’m a 30-year-old male at a very healthy weight and with <10% BF so I tend to doubt I'm insulin-resistant.
Has anyone noticed any specific changes within Paleo that seemed to target KP? I do a Leangains-style protocol, so I do eat a lot of carbs on workout days in the form of sweet potatoes, squash and white rice. I don't do any dairy other than unsweetened whey protein and only occasional nightshades. Maybe it could be eggs? I do eat 2 dozen/week.
Hey Prescott,
I would suggest cutting the whey. Whey is a dairy protein. I noticed my improvement specifically when I went strict Paleo and cut ALL dairy. So, for me, I think that was the link.
As a pretty serious lifter, I thought I would never be able to cut my post workout protein shakes but I have found that I am fine without them. The improved diet has reduced inflammation so the post workout aches aren’t as bad or long lived as they used to be anyway.
I also say ditch the whey. I’m a 32 yo male, lean (<10% bf) and have to be COMPLETELY dairy free for my KP to go away. Lots of people say butter is the best of the dairy products, but even butter and ghee make my skin flare up.
Would you also eliminate ghee?
I’m Asian and now 31 years old. I had keratosis pilaris since I was around 8 year old. When I was 20, I thought my KP was a result of eating meat. So, I became a vegan for two years which showed very little results on my KP but I felt healthy and was very skinny. Then I switched to a vegetarian diet incorporating only fish and eggs with NO DAIRY. Still, my keratosis pilaris was around on my arms, legs, thighs, and back. So, after some thinking, I realized that the source could be grains. Being Asian, we have rice at every meal. I stopped eating all grains which for me was only jasmine rice. I consumed meats, veggies, fruits, and I had baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes. My keratosis pilaris gradually disappeared in two months. Completely disappeared. Eliminate the grains (rice, wheat, rye, barely, etc..) and replace them with alternative starches so your energy levels don’t go crashing down.
Hey Steve,
Could you tell me when after how many weeks you noticed your kp dots fade away?
Yes! Me too. I am a 40ish female, have had problems with KP, mild acne, and some rosacea since I was a teen. After a few months on Paleo these conditions were gone — totally gone. I have smooth facial skin with no redness, bumps or breakouts. What I now understand is that all of these things are not ‘diseases’ per se, but the result of chronic inflammation. Paleo diet = no more inflammation = great skin.
Just FYI, in my experience, this is entirely a carb issue. Too many carbs — ‘healthy’ or otherwise — are what create the inflammation. My skin also cleared on a traditional Atkins-style low-carb diet, but Paleo is what gives me the extra glow of health. Wish I’d figured this out a bit earlier in life, but very glad to know it now. 🙂
Good stuff. I am still trying to use the AI protocol to clear up my psoriasis and am doing some reintroduction testing at the moment – seems tomatoes & chilli spices are not my friends but eggs and nuts seem okay.
After reading the latest Prof Cordain book it seems different peppers and tomatoes have different levels of the problematic ingredients so I am going to try big ripe red tomatoes and red bell peppers as they have less of what causes the problems.
Skin disorders seem the toughest to get sorted in my experience, they just require such a level of commitment but… gotta keep on pushing and hopefully i will have a success story for here at some point soon!
Marcus
Good tips! I have it just a bit, not enough to really bother me. But I did notice that it did get better while pregnant….eating better, more vitamins and keeping moisturized better. And now that I am low carb and dairy free (due to intolerances) it is 99% gone! yay!
But now my son has it too. His seems to be also affected by his seasonal allergies, as it is much better when he is on his ‘claritin’. But getting so much more better since I am working on cutting out his wheat and always always moisturize with organic coconut oil. He has not had any excema flare-ups since we switched to only using the CO has his lotion.
That is great news. My wife and sone suffer form KP. my son has it on his face. While I am full Paleo my wife dabbles in it, but cheats daily. Pizza and frozen yogurt , and brownies (red Mango and such) are her down fall. my son eats a SAD diet unfortunately. hopefully this blog post will give them a new incentive to eat healthy. Thanks for sharing!
This is amazing – because I grew up with this problem my whole life. I was told it was some form of heat rash – and I just accepted it as is.
It wasn’t until reading this post though, that I realized, the rash is gone! I was reading it and thought to myself “hey that’s the problem I have” – then I checked my arms and the rash is gone! Simply amazing!
I have found that ensuring vitamins A & D intake is critical in maintaining the remission of KP. I remember testing this with some red palm oil (high in carotenoids but not pre-formed vitamin A/retinol) and it worked pretty well for me. I was also taking a vitamin D supplement at the time. I love to recommend the concentrated superfood-supplement of fermented cod liver oil/butter oil blend from Green Pasture for this reason. I also find that the skin on my face is vastly improved (virtually ZERO acne, even what I thought was hormonal acne) with the use of the Green Pasture brand Beauty Balm. It doesn’t smell great at first, but after a while, I grew to love the smell because it means healthy, glowing skin for me. I hope this helps. We talk a bunch about this on an episode of the Balanced Bites Podcast (I think it’s this one) > http://balancedbites.com/2012/04/podcast-episode-34-fish-oil-cod-liver-oil-fsv-cravings.html
This is interesting. Although low-carb seems to be the most important factor for me, I do take Green Pasture fermented cod liver oil capsules. Totally agree that supplemental vitamins A&D and fatty acids play a very important role in skin (and overall) health. Improves mood, too — but of course it’s all connected. Thanks for adding that!
Same here! I have had this on my whole body, thighs, arms, lower back and even on my bum! but its all gone now except for one small area on my arms. I hated my body because of this. I´m not entirely dairy free (more primal maybe?) today, but maybe it will fully disappear if I cut that too!
We are a bunch of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with useful info to work on. You’ve done a formidable activity and our entire neighborhood will likely be grateful to you.
About how long did it take for you to see results after cutting out gluten and dairy? I’ve had severe KP for a long time on my arms and feel like i’ve tried everything. I’ve recently decided to cut out gluten for other reasons, but now i’m encouraged to cut out dairy if it’s possible to see results.
Wow I have had this condition for 15 years. Everything I read said it will just go away so I haven’t done anything other than cortisone cream when it itches a lot. I was doing research on Paleo because I have to test everything an came to to conclusion that the benefit if getting rid of my KP is worth it alone. Going to try a few more recipes and then jump in with both feet.
I have KP on my face and the backs of my arms. I’ve been doing a primal lifestyle for a little over a year (I still have dairy). My KP hasn’t gotten better and sometimes seems worse, particularly on my face. It’s looking like I need to go to an autoimmune paleo diet based on other comments. Is this right? That would be very hard for me, but I guess I could give it a shot for a month. Just try it for 30 days, right? 🙂
I guess I’d have to figure out what to do for breakfast, since I have eggs every day!
Any advice would be appreciated. I’ve also heard it can disappear around age 30. Can I hold out hope for this? I turn 30 in May. 🙂
From the looks of all of the above posts, there are a lot of people over the age of 30 who still have KP. Personally, I do not follow a strict autoimmune paleo diet. I still eat nightshades and eggs. I have cut all grains and dairy. And, I had results within 6 weeks and was totally kp free within 10 weeks. Now, if I cheat and have some gluten or dairy I will see a flare up within about 24 hours.
Hi there, I find rubbing Aloe vera, witch hazel and tea tree really helps me 🙂
I came across this while doing more research into my KP and food sensitivities. I’m not sure which food group is my problem yet, but I cut out basically everything (gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, sugar) for two weeks and my KP was sooooo much better!!! It’s the only thing that has ever worked. I didn’t get any new bumps on my arms, and my legs even started to clear. I wasn’t able to challenge the foods due to travel reasons and my KP has come back, but I’ll try again soon. I’m researching the paleo diet now as it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be to change up my diet so much, maybe becuase I ate what I thought to be healthy foods before-but it is more expensive!
With regards to the genetic influence which someone mentioned above, I read something somewhere that basically stated that it’s not necessarily the karatosis pilaris that is hereditary, but that it’s in our genes for our bodies to deal with the toxins (eg. food sensivity) introduced by trying to push them out through the skin. They suggested that other families having a history or heart disease is how their genetics handle toxins. Something to think about.
Oh wow. I’ve been on Paleo for a while now, not as strict as I should be, and reading this article just made me realize that my own KP has improved a LOT! I had gotten so used to the bumpy red skin on my arms that I didn’t even realize that it had improved at all. Another awesome plus of Paleo has now been discovered, haha! I too had tried all the creams and medicine and nothing improved it.
I found this post because I was searching the internet for the paleo/keratosis connection after I noticed mine improving after 7 day into paleo induction. My arms feel so smooth!
It’s nice to have EXTRA little good surprises to keep me motivated.
Great post!
It’s funny how little issues just seem to sort of clear up after eliminating certain foods.
I used to have this ingrown toenail for years. Nothing I did would get rid of it. However, after getting rid of wheat in my diet, it miraculously healed.
This is just one example of an ailment that went away once I “cleaned things up.” There are lots of little things which used to be issues that just sort of went away.
My 11 month old daughter has KP on her face, arms and legs. She started showing symptoms around 3 months, but was diagnosed with KP at our 9 month checkup. I immediately started looking at diet and took away gluten. After a few weeks, I didn’t see much of a change, but I hear it can take up to 3 months to see results. Then I decided to to eliminate casein (protein found in cow’s milk) and after 1 week, I can see a huge difference in her KP. I encourage anyone who has KP to try gluten free and casein free.
Thank you for this information.
I have been reading through the comments and have come to the conclusion that the paleo diet must be the answer to my rather sivere Kp. My mum is a nutritionist and she does the Paleo diet but I never thought as a teenager it would benefit me as much as it appears to. I think I’ll slowly come off the grains and dairy and then i’ll hopefully be watching an improvement. I’m not too into bread and milk and don’t eat them often-so I guess I’m on my way.
Thank you again this will hopefully help me with my insecurities and then I can stop covering then with my vast variety of long sleeved tops and full length tights even during summer.
I can’t believe I found this. I have gone through this problem since i was 12 years old and as many of you here I went through many medicaments and none of them worked. Now I’m 22 and it is so cool to know that many people who have my condition have been able to over it….Today is my birthday and to know this have been the best gift anybody could have given to me…Thx so much!!!
Hi, I have the same condition along with 20 nail dystraphy. I have been on paleo for 2 months now but I still have the rash. I still drink whey isolate protein shakes after workouts because on the package it doesn’t say it has caseine which is what I think causes the skin condition.
I also have low stomach acid so I am taking digestive enzymes and pro-biotics. I read on:
“http://purelyprimalskincare.com/skincare-saturday-no-more-chicken-skin-beat-keratosis-pilaris-naturally/”
That Vitamin A, D and K2 are important. Interesting fact is summer time when I am wearing short sleves and where ever sun hits on the skin the rash is no more. Its on upper arms, back and legs. Do you guys think all this is connected? Any suggestions? I can’t wait to get rid of this, as I have had this all my life.
best regards,
Kash
I know this is an old thread but I’m curious to know if your kp ever improved beyond the photo. To me, that’s not cleared up/good enough at all. Mine is currently at about that state just based on using AHA lotions/exfoliants. I want it to be much better than that so I’m trying aspects of the “paleo diet” ( let me just clarify that I loathe “paleo” (sorry) and think it is the most absurdly selfish diet fad in the history of absurd diet fads – consuming grass-fed meat and dairy is undeniably AWFUL for the planet and everyone involved except the rich, selfish North American eating it). I’m cutting out all grains and haven’t noticed any difference yet two weeks in…
Can anyone tell me how long it took for them to see results? I have been wheat and dairy free for about a week now and notice a huge improvement in the texture in my skin, it is very smooth now, but still no improvement in the appearance or redness. Would anyone be able to share how long it took for them to start noticing it fade away?
Can whey protein cause KP as well? I ask because I’m partially paleo right now, with the exception of whey protein (an isolate, free of casein). In the past, when I’ve been completely dairy free, I thought the rash went away completely, but it’s still there at present.
Worth tinkering with
Thank you so much. I have suffered from this exact same rash my entire life. It covers both arms. Occasionally my thighs and over the past month it seems to be getting worse. I put it down to a food intolerance of either casein (my son also has the same intolerance just different reaction) or gluten.
My side of the family is also riddled with AI diseases. I am going to do some research into switching to paleo. Anything that will help.
Why do I have some feeling fat is involved in this condition? Lately I have been taking a lot more vitamin c than I used to and notised improvement in health but also my skin. I have been eating one slice of levain bread (wheat) in morning, toasted with nutella (terrible I know) and the rest of the day chicken, fish, egg, veggies ( all kinds) and more than three fruits a day. I felt very good, even better when I cut out even animal protein one day but the next day I felt down and needed meat. Started butter again had some coffee, even normal cows milk. Very bad! The KP doubled and became more red and I felt stress in my body and anxiety came along. I had gas ans became swollen, too. It feels like the combination of them all; ordinary wheat, milk, coffee, eggs butter fat and sugar together in one day does the thing. Can pancreas have something to do with KP? I can live very healthy most of the time but then suddenly a stressful situation and I am back on the drugs: chocolate, wheat cakes, hot milk, butter, cheese…my KP gets worse immediately. But the levain bread doesnt give we joint pain like normal wheat bread. Youghurt is no better for me. I guess diary is my problem. Thank you very much for this info!
Have always had BAD KP on my forearms. I started the Paleo Diet 2 weeks ago and now my bumps are starting to shrink and fade away. Unbelievable.
AWESOME!!
Update: My KP is now almost completely gone. Skin as smooth as can be – I’m in shock )in a good way, of course).
That’s AWESOME!!! Please, keep me posted!
If anyone is still reading this thread, please try using a product called “mother dirt”. this has significantly helped me rid myself of kp. what it is is called ammonia oxidizing bacteria. It’s probiotics (good bacteria) for your skin. This bacteria absorbs ammonia from your sweat and produces nitrous oxide which is essential for your skin. It will slowly rid yourself of KP and restore order to your skin’s microbiome.