How to Get Rid of Chicken Skin: Derm-Approved Keratosis Pilaris Treatments

4. Laser Treatment

A pulsed dye laser can also be effective at reducing redness caused by keratosis pilaris, but the effect will only be temporary. Due to the skin’s genetic tendency to form keratosis pilaris, it’s likely that the pink color will return with time.

5. Off-Label Scalp Treatment

Detroit-based dermatologist Linda Honet, M.D. suffers from keratosis pilaris personally, and her outside-the-box solution is to apply Restorsea Revitalizing Scalp Treatment to her keratosis pilaris. "The beauty of Restorsea and the enzyme in it—which is extracted from salmon—is that is has selective exfoliation, meaning it only exfoliates the dead skin layers and doesn't cause irritation like glycolic acid or even sting," Honet says.

"As dermatologists, we often try a lot of products as long as they do no harm, off label," she says. "I used the scalp treatment for many scalp conditions for my patients and had gotten amazing results. So I thought, Wow, if I can get such amazing results with the scalp, which is a tough area to treat, maybe it will work on keratosis pilaris, which is a very difficult skin condition to treat. I tried it on myself and realized, 'oh this is pretty good!'"

Honet applies two or three spritzes of the product on her palm and rubs it onto her upper arm, repeating on her other arm. "I let it dry for about a minute or two, and then I layer it with some good moisturizer or body butter," she says.

What can make chicken skin worse?

Over-exfoliating is a major don't for anyone with keratosis pilaris. "Don’t go crazy exfoliating! Gentle scrubbing with a soft loofah or gentle body scrub is OK, but I see many women who go to town trying to scrape off bumps with harsh scrubs, pumice stones, and other exfoliating products, only to wind up scratching and traumatizing their skin - without getting results," says Geraghty. Plain and simple, the goose-bump like condition just can't be sloughed off.

Instead, practice gentle skin care. Geraghty advises people with keratosis pilaris to cleanse with a mild, nondrying soap, and to also use thick, plain moisturizer, since dry skin can exacerbate the condition.

Is there anything that looks like keratosis pilaris but is really something else?

There are some conditions that can masquerade as garden-variety keratosis pilaris, but are actually a variant of keratosis pilaris or a different issue altogether, Geraghty explains.

Keratosis Pilaris Atrophicans Faciei

With this variant of keratosis pilaris, affected people not only have rough pink bumps on the brows and cheeks, but also have thinning of the outer eyebrows.

Folliculitis

An infection of the hair follicles caused by bacteria or other germs can sometimes resemble keratosis pilaris, but this condition is usually temporary and treatable.

Lichen Spinulosus

Lichen spinulosus is a rare condition where a bunch of tiny rough bumps appear suddenly on the skin. Lichen spinulosus can be particularly severe and widespread in people with HIV.

Rash Caused by Chemotherapy

A rash resembling keratosis pilaris can form in melanoma patients who are treated with the chemotherapy drug vemurafenib.