Do you have small red bumps on your upper arms?

Look at your arms and see if its similar to these photo's (source of the photo's: emedicine.medscape.com) :

That doesn't look very attractive huh? If your upper arms look similar to the pictures above you might have Keratosis Pilaris. (Kera... what o_O"?) Don't be afraid it's HARMLESS and you're not the only one who has it o.o, cuz I have it as well on my upper arms =/. I always get questions like, hey what are those tiny red dots on your arms? Click on read more below if you want to know more about it.

What is it?
It's called Keratosis Pilaris (KP), I will just name it KP in this blogpost. I never knew what it was when I was little. It is a harmless skin condition often referred to as "chicken skin". This can occur at a young age. Worldwide, KP affects 40-50% of the adult population. Many people with a dry skin has it. They are groups of small rough bumps which are most common on the upper arms and on the fronts of the thighs. It can also occur on your face, buttocks or at your back. Most of the people will confuse it with acne, I also thought it was acne at first =/. Source: helpforkp.com

KP occurs when the human body produces excess keratin, a natural protein in the skin. The excess keratin surrounds and entraps the hair follicles in the pore. Therefore you will get tiny red bumps. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratosis_pilaris

Dutch translation: Het is een storing in de rijping van de hoorncellen bij de haarzakjes. De haren groeien niet goed uit waardoor er kleine rode bultjes ontstaan ;)

What are the symptoms?
The skin feels rough or spiky. It looks a bit like goosebumps. Occasionally KP is itchy. Yes,Yes,Yes... I have all of these symptoms T_T" *sigh 

Can it get worse?
I was a little bit insecure about it when I was little, since it feels so rough and it looks a bit ugly with all those small red bumps. Especially during summer you will see it clearly when I'm wearing sleeveless clothes. But ah well, I got used to it and it's not so rough as it used to be now. KP tends to be worse during the winter or other times of low humidity when the skin dries out. However, it might be less visible during the summer.

Can it be cured?
No, it can't =(. However, you can use products which makes it less rough. I often read that products with glycolic acid, lactic acid works and products with Vitamin A helps. 

What did I use to make my arms smoother?

I'm scrubbing my arms during shower with a salt scrub (grapefruit) which I bought at a Dutch drugstore. I'm using this almost a year now and it made my arms smoother, less rough ^_^! I will write a review about it very soon, so stay tuned! Small tips: Don't shower with extremely hot water, cuz it will make it even more dry and it's important to apply a body lotion after you showered ;) Hope this blogpost helped ^_^!