Does Keratosis Pilaris Affect the Scalp?

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1. Keratosis pilaris (KP) is more likely to get worse if the skin is drying out. In fact during winter, the time of when the skin is easier to become dry, KP tends to get worse, too. Apply moisturizer or even emollients if necessary on regular basis to keep your skin moist!
2. Take a bath /shower with lukewarm water, not hot water! Because hot water will remove more natural oil in your skin, making your dry skin get worse!
3. There are also some natural remedies to choose from, see more in here!
4. If necessary, you can ask a dermatologist about a cream that can help ease the problem. Creams containing active substances such as urea, lactic acid, or salicylic acid may help.
5. Be careful on vitamin or cosmetic products with their ‘too good to be true’ advertisements! Many expensive vitamins /cosmetic creams for KP are actually useless.

It seems that the treatment is focused on keeping the skin moist (avoiding skin dryness), improving the appearance of the skin, or using keratolytic agents if necessary (typically for severe cases). See also other tips to help cope with dry skin!

Keratosis is a group of skin conditions associated with an overgrowth of keratin. There are several types, and keratosis pilaris is one of them.

Talking about keratosis on the scalp, there is a specific type called actinic keratosis (the most common keratosis form that affects the scalp).

Actinic keratosis is thought as a consequence of excessive exposure to sunlight (especially UV rays of the sunlight). Unlike KP, it may pose to some health risks such as skin cancer.

The treatment is usually necessary. There are some reasons of why the treatment may be required.

For instance, it’s difficult to exactly predict which lesions /patches that will become skin cancer. Therefore all of these patches are usually treated and removed as a precaution.

If you in doubt whether patches or acne-like bumps on your scalp are KP or actinic keratosis, see a doctor to find a clearly diagnosis! There is usually no any test. Doctor can make the diagnosis of both skin conditions simply by looking at the patches /bumps!