Seborrheic Keratosis - at Home Treatment (Cure)
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free skin care · Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:21 pm

bethany wrote:

A quick update on my red spots from using H2O2...

I switched from emu oil to a tamanu/emu oil combination last night, and saw a reduction of redness by about 50% on my chest overnight. I will be applying this every night until these darned things are GONE!!

Another update...I had some initial redness reduction, but no improvement after that. So, I now have 26 dime sized discolorations all over my legs, and the SKs are STILL there. Sad

I am going to see if I can get rid of them with Obagi Nu Derm.

As far as the area on my chest that I treated...the H2O2 ate the stuff right off, but now I have a scar of red, raised flesh right in the middle of my chest (as my sister has so helpfully pointed out twice Rolling Eyes

). I am currently applying hydroquinone to that daily, and will eventually hit it with the dermaroller.

Interestingly, I applied the H2O2 to the backs of my hands and it bubbled more on some areas of abnormal cells, but that's about it. The spots are still there, but are not discolored in any way.

Moral of the story...this stuff works in many cases, but it is not for everyone. Start SLOW and figure out if it is going to work for YOU. Do NOT do everything at the beginning like I did!

Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:05 am

I first want to thank everybody for their helpful advice.

I am a 37 year old male who is unfortunately balding in the crown area. So I figured I would shave my head and no big deal. However, once I did this I started noticing raised and textured bumps growing that would bleed when I cut them and take several weeks to heal before returning months later. Kaiser Permanente diagnosed it as Seborrheic keratoses and unsurprisingly said there was no cure.

My first question about using 35% H202 is does H202 kill hair follicles. Since the Seborrheic keratoses appear where I am losing my hair I would not want to destroy my hair follicles while I am eradicating them.

Second, what skin products to people use to cover these up if they do not use the H202 and what skin products do they use after using the H202? I saw that PCA has a product called PCA13 to fade these things and PC17 looks like you put it on the surrounding area to protect it while administering H202.

Lastly, how precise do I need to be in applying this? Since this is on my scalp it is not as easy to be as precise as if they were on say my thigh.

Thank you very much for this community. I am normally a pretty outgoing guy but the combination of losing my hair and getting these things in my bald areas has made me more of an introvert and keeps me in for weeks at a time when this acts up.

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:32 am

Bethany - sorry for your experience with SK Sad

It sounds that SK on the legs were partially completed, since you still have some of it left.
It is understandable that you decided to back off though. And it is tricky to figure out the best strength of H2O2. You should be able to get nice color back with hydroquinone. It took me long time to get even tone back. You would laugh, but I ordered something like 20 tubes of hudroquinone from alldaychemist, and bought all reviva fading spot cream from my local food store!!! Laughing

Because I needed to treat with this stuff a large back surface. And often I treated it not just daily but twice a day!

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:03 am

Hi harvoolio, and welcome to the forum! Smile

I dumped Kaiser Permanente, and getting another insurance in January!

You are not the only one that has SK problem on your head. Surferguy posted on page 5 of this thread a detailed account of his successfull SK treatment on his face.
He is a real trooper with having SK submerged in H2O2 for a couple of minutes, and repeated treatments Shock

He might be able to give more info on SK facial treatments.

I do not believe that H2O2 kills hair follicles, but I do not know for sure maybe someone else would chime in....

Can you please provide link to PCA13 & PCA17, when I google them I am getting results from electronics, not skin topicals.

I did not really use anything special to heal the wounds, after SK was eaten by glycolic acid and H2O2. For me it was easy, since it was not on a prominent place, I did not need to conceal it with make up. For high strength of the treatment solutions, and with more developed SK you might have wounds once SK is eaten up, then the scabs are formed and healed, then you might need some skin color correction in place. You might want to do a patch test of a small area to get an idea what your response might be in terms of solution strength, and how your SK responds.

I was not very precise with acid application, since it was not a highly visible area, but for you it might be totally different because of the location on your head. So it is probably a matter of preference. Maybe you can use a system of mirrors (magnifying mirror) to get better visibility of the area. Or can ask someone to help with difficult to reach areas.

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:19 am

harvoolio wrote:

My first question about using 35% H202 is does H202 kill hair follicles. Since the Seborrheic keratoses appear where I am losing my hair I would not want to destroy my hair follicles while I am eradicating them. ...

Lastly, how precise do I need to be in applying this? Since this is on my scalp it is not as easy to be as precise as if they were on say my thigh.

Harv, welcome to EDS!

I know exactly what you mean about becoming introverted...I have had some weight gain due to a surgery 18 months ago, and I am embarrassed to leave the house, visit clients, etc. It is very embarrassing and depressing. Sad

As hair as whether or not H202 kills hair follicles, I don't think that anyone here has the experience to answer that question at this point. But what I can tell you is that placing H2O2 on your thigh is NOT as precise as you might think, lol. You would be better off applying H2O2 to you scalp in thin, wiping layers as I mentioned I did in an earlier post.

The other thing you need to be aware of is that you could have some significant discoloration that could last for quite some time. (I am living with this now)

Some other things (in order of strength) that you might want to consider are Retin A (you can order from overseas with no Rx), Obagi Nu Derm, or a chemical peel like the Obagi Blue Peel. You would have significant redness with the latter two, those as well, plus lots of peeling.

And if you do go the H202 route, I would pick up some Retin A to help with the healing. It will make your scalp very sensitive to the sun though, so you MUST wear a hat. However, Retin A is recommended to help with penetration of scalp topicals like Rogaine, so there are other benefits as well.

Best of luck with your "project" and please keep us posted!

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:28 am

Harv, I was thinking further about your situation...have you considered having them zapped at the dermarologist with either a laser or liquid nitrogen?

Here is a link that talks about liquid nitrogen being used to remove SK's, warts, etc:

http://dermnetnz.org/procedures/cryotherapy.html

Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:39 pm

Kaiser used liquid nitrogen on one of the SKs. The SK fell off temporarily but eventually returned.

From what I understand an SK actually is buried under many skin layers but seen on the top. So cutting it off or using liquid nitrogen only removes some of the surface layers. Isn’t the H202 treatment supposed to not only remove them but also permanently eliminate them by corroding down the many layers?

Maybe someone here could comment on the differences.

Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:57 pm

Mpstat,

Thank you for originally starting this thread.

PCA stands for Pacific Care of Arizona. Their founder, Margaret Ancira, was the person who had filed the patent that you referenced.
Naturally, PCA referred to some of their products when they applied the acid in their clinical studies (e.g. PCA 17 around the areas so these are not affected by the acid). PCA SKIN pHaze 17 ReBalance.

PCA13 is their pigment control product (pHaze 13 Pigment Gel®).

I figured if her company did some of the research all of us are benefiting from and these are known to be good products, I would purchase them.

Also, is H202 supposed to be a permanent cure for the affected area whereas liquid nitrogen just removes them?

Thanks.

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:26 pm

harvoolio - yes, I did read about PCA in the past, and forgot about it Laughing

I would think that liquid nitrogen should be even stronger then H2O2, and wonder how come SK returned to the spot treated with it Confused

Is it possible that presence of other SK in the area helped to "re-incarnate" the treated one or there were still remaining SK particles left that resumed growing? Maybe you can contact Margaret and ask her how H2O2 compares to liquid nitrogen, and post it on the board?

In my case I still have beautiful clear skin on my back. Once I removed all of them they did not return, at least for now.... I used glycolic acid, spot treated with H2O2.

Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:55 pm

Thanks again for responding.

Kaiser performed the liquid nitrogen with that canister.

Prior to this year, I have never had a problem with my skin. But in response to losing my hair, I shaved my head to see how I looked. Once I did that a SK soon grew. I picked it off and noticed another one the day after. Both of these took 3 weeks to remove and with a bald head I basically did not go out.

I thought these might be temporary and kept the shaved head look. Right before I went to a wedding they again returned and essentially ruined my time there. I again picked it out (but each time it takes weeks for them to not be visible). When another returned several months later I went into Kaiser to see what they could do and they said there is no cure. The dermatologist then put the liquid nitrogen on.

Now, I have let my hair grow out but have a bald spot in the back with some thin hair. I felt the SKs itching and scratched out now 4 which have grown, one could be the one that the liquid nitrogen was put on or it could be near it.

So essentially I cannot go to any New Year Parties. Coincidently, my business is taking off so I find myself putting all of my time into it so I do not have to socialize as I do not know what to say because nobody I know my age has anything like this that is apparent.

I would love to try the H202 but don’t want to lose my hair because of it which would then just exacerbate my original problem (if I were not losing my hair nobody would ever see these –theoretically I could have many more which I do not see). Kaiser is useless but do you think I should give the people at PCA a call. Sorry to unload this on you and everybody else, but this has been quite dramatic.

Thanks for listening…

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 3:48 pm

After hearing your updates, I stand by my recommendation for a medium to deep Blue Peel down to the dermal layer, with 6 weeks of pre- and post-treatment conditioning with Nu Derm to prevent post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

If you want to try treating it yourself, then get some white cotton rounds and some H2O2, shave your head, and begin wiping a thin layer on each day.

But be VERY careful that you do NOT get it anywhere near your eyes!!

Oh, and stock up on a variety of stylish hats to wear while you go through this.

free skin care · Sat Dec 27, 2008 4:09 pm

harvoolio - I can hear your frustration, and with hair issue involved you have a special case. I am sure that you should be able to resolve the issue, and eventually will have nice skin, and be able to face people without second thoughts about your appearance!

Since PCA looked closely into SK problem, and done multiple treatments of patients during their clinical studies I think it would be in your best interests to contact them directly and explain your case. If the phone consultation if not enough, and you live not far from them, you might even consider having a trip to their spa.

If for whatever reason spa route does not work out, you can proceed with self-treatment. Keep us posted!

Sat Dec 27, 2008 4:55 pm

I will give PCA a call next week. I don't think flying out there would work as an ongoing solution but maybe as an initial one or they could have consultants in the larger cities. Let's see what they say next week.

My other alternative if all else fails is to consider hair weaves which kill two birds with one stone (SKs and baldness) but I really would like to avoid this if possible.

Thank you again everybody for all of your input and have a nice weekend.

Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:43 pm

Since this thread continues to thrive, I thought I’d weight in again with some after-the-fact results.
First, the removal I described back on page 5 continues to be a success. Your mileage may vary, but the 35% H2O2 is the only thing I found on the internet that actually works for me (there are a lot of things, like duct-taping a slice of garlic to an SK, for example, that didn’t.) Since I oxidized away that 10 year old growth the skin that was hidden underneath it since the 1990s has continued to return to normal. Now it is virtually impossible to tell just by looking exactly where that thing was attached. It was a little pinkish for about a month, but even that has faded away to just normal skin tone.

Second, I should reiterate that I took great pains to isolate the application to just the SK itself by using a test tube pressed up against it so the stuff wouldn’t flow out, or down, across my face. I see the word “wiped” used in postings here which sounds like more of a general, broad application to a large area. I didn’t do that. I forcibly concentrated it on just the growth itself. If you read the patent mpstat cited, in some of the ingredients for potential formulas it looks like they were thinking about formulating the H2O2 in some kind of neutral binder to thicken it into a gel so it would stick to just one specific spot and be concentrated there. At any rate, I don’t see any reference that recommends “wiping” it across large areas of skin.

Also, I noticed very little run-off after I took away the test tube. Most of the H2O2 soaked in. Conversely, where I dribbled it on regular skin on the inside of my forearm to see what would happen, it tended to bead up and run off and didn't soak in. I think that's a distinguishing factor of SK's: they are sort of dry and more absorbent, like a dried-up sponge, than regular skin.

Speaking of the patent, everyone just starting out on this should take the time to read it as mpstat originally recommended. They cited 5 different “Case Studies” that give different scenarios of treatment + outcome. Most of the treatment examples are pretty short term like 3 to 5 days. But mine took a total of almost 20 days beginning to end -- and ten of those were “days off” in the middle where I didn’t apply anything because it was stinging pretty bad and swollen so I let it recover, then started in again. However, if you look closely at the raw data they cite further down in the patent, you'll note that it is gathered out as far as 90 days. So though the Case Studies they mention dwell more on the "quick-fix" cases, clearly some of the other patients had to keep after it for a much l-o-n-g-e-r time.

Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:30 pm

Harvoolio: I’m not a Dr. so take all this with the appropriate number of grains of salt. But I have been to a dermatologist before I started trying the do-it-yourself route + have read a good bit about Seborrheic Keratosis. One of your statements seems at odds with what I’ve been told by an MD + what I have read. You said: “From what I understand an SK actually is buried under many skin layers but seen on the top ... Isn’t the H202 treatment supposed to not only remove them but also permanently eliminate them by corroding down the many layers?” As I, a non-MD, understand it, it’s exactly the opposite: what’s notable about SK (vs. moles, skin cancer, etc) is that they do NOT penetrate below the first layer of skin. They don't put down roots. They are just superficially attached (sort of like a mushroom growing on a tree trunk) to the very outside of your skin. Therefore they do not have to be dug out, either chemically or surgically, from deeper layers of flesh. That's why freezing them with liquid nitro is one way that works. Though H2O2 can inflict a kind of chemical burn or “scald” on the surface of your skin, it does not -- at least in my experience when applied for just a couple of minutes -- aggressively eat down into the top layer of healthy skin. It just oxidizes away whatever abnormal cells are on top. SK's are not normal skin cells & are somehow vulnerable to the hyper-oxidizing effects of H2O2 while the normal skin underneath them isn’t.

As far as hair loss goes, I had an SK for 10 years in the center of the sideburn area. Since it tends to plug up the follicles because its growing on top of the skin, there was sort of a hole formed in the sideburn area where hair didn’t grow. Because the H2O2 doesn’t excavate down into normal skin, I doubt it would kill hair follicles which are actually buried further down in the epidermis. In fact, since I oxidized away the SK the follicles are now unplugged and pushing out hair again and filling in that spot where the SK once was. I don’t know if they will all come back or not, but they seem to be working on it.

Definitely figure out some way to avoid letting any of that stuff run off your head and get into your eyes!

Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:10 am

Surfguy,

Thanks for replying. I just read some more and you are correct in that “only the top layers of the epidermis are involved”. Also, hair follicles are in the dermis. So does H202 go to the dermis layer or once healthy skin is reached it no longer penetrates?

So what do people mean when they say there is no cure to SK? When I have shaved them off or even had Kaiser use liquid nitrogen on one they came back months later. The person who administered the liquid nitrogen at Kaiser said the only cure is to fully cut them out and then stitch them up but the stitching sometimes leaves worse scarring than leaving the SK.

I then read on treatment methods at dermatology.aboutdotcom which said about Liquid Nitrogen:

Liquid Nitrogen - A small seborrheic keratosis can be frozen with liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen works by freezing and destroying the cells but leaving the connective tissue foundation intact. The lesion frozen forms a blister as the water is released from the now-dead cells then crusts over as that water dries. When the crust falls off after several days, the skin underneath has begun to repair itself. Liquid nitrogen can leave a scar as the repaired skin may have more or less pigment producing cells. The scar is usually flat though unless you have a tendency to form keloids.

**********************************************************************

So in leaving the connective tissue foundation intact does that increase the likelihood of return? Does H202 kill the connective tissue or is connective tissue non-SK? Or did liquid nitrogen remove the SK but new ones keep coming back?

Finally, does anybody have any recommendations on agents to increase the healing process of the cells once removed (maybe retin-A) and others that mask temporary scar as these cells heal?

Sorry for so many questions but I am just learning about SK and possible treatments.

Thanks.

free skin care · Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:24 am

I found the following info on http://www.healthboards.com (message boards)

Originally Posted by minette747
I have seborrheic dermatitis on my face, terrible! It kept me depressed for months!

Finally, I wash my face with head and shoulders shampoo for oily skin, wait a 2-3 minutes then rinse. After that I mix 1:1 jojoba oil and tea tree oil and apply on my face. after 2 weeks, flakes and weepy skin disappeared.

I still have itchy face from time to time but I have my 3:1 jojoba oil and tea tree oil as maintenance. Also i'm avoiding too much sugar and dairy in my diet, more on fruits and vegetables and lots of water.

i got desperate and tried a corn remover solution, which is also basic a chemical to exfoliate. it worked! on a smallish one. it made a sort of covering over it. i reapplied several times. eventually, it peeled off and hasn't come back.

free skin care · Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:01 am

surferguy - thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of your SK experience, especially with such complex case, and treatment plan! Very Happy

It seems that you hit it ALL - old SK, on highly visible facial area, hair follicles, and more. Your posts are very valuable, and much appreciated. Thanks again!

free skin care · Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:20 am

harvoolio wrote:

... The person who administered the liquid nitrogen at Kaiser said the only cure is to fully cut them out and then stitch them up but the stitching sometimes leaves worse scarring than leaving the SK....

This is the worst SK treatment recommendation I have read. Shock

Most of the SK treatment methods such as scraping, lasers, liquid nitrogen might leave scarring. With H2O2 scarring risks are minimized, and the patent states that this is one of the advantages of H2O2 treatments compared to the other ones.

Run away from that Kaiser person with cutting SK out and sawing it in suggestions!

As for possible returns of SK, there are maintenance recommendations. Once removed it is possible that SK would come back not necessarily on the same spot (assuming it was removed from the spot completely), but on other areas. This is why it is important to monitor first appearances of SK when it is just in the beginning stages, and easier to remove.

Since SK seems to grow and multiply, it is very important to remove it completely during the initial treatments. So that no any minute SK left in the treated area. In surferguy's case there were multiple treatments following closely one after another, with SK submerged into H2O2.

Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:14 am

I am not a skin care specialist, just a chemist (in the US sense...). From the messages posted, it seems as though any acid used for cosmetic purposes should be safe to try - the acid just seems to peel away the layers of the SK. I think I'll try salicylic acid myself first, since that's readily available for callous and wart treatments etc. (same principle) in non-threatening concentrations. Different skin might react better to one acid than another, or perhaps the different acidities makes the difference for different people. So if at first you don't succeed -- try, try again.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a strong oxidizing agent which is also acidic. It is sold in aqueous (water) solutions, such as 3% H2O2 in water (H2O). 35% H2O2 in water is probably the highest we can get as consumers, they probably sell higher concentrations for lab use or maybe medical use (don't know, I work as a chemical translator these days and not in a lab). The vet told me to use 3% H2O2 on the cats' abscesses - it's a good disinfectant and probably (from what I've seen here) was also helping to keep the wound open long enough for proper healing (cats tend to heal the skin too fast, which is why they develop abscesses so easily). The vet said to keep the wound open with 3% H2O2 (what they sell at the grocery store) by dabbing the H2O2 solution (with cotton balls or paper tissue) on the wound twice a day. Once the skin was really supposed to heal over, then the H2O2 didn't open it. At 3%, the stuff was safe enough for cats who lick their skin. Also there probably was little if any H2O2 left after the daubing, it breaks down to just water H2O and oxygen O2 quickly.

I looked at the glycolic acid solutions available at the cellbone site - they're identified as chemical peels, just meaning that they get rid of the layers of the SK in this case by chemical means as has been observed by other posters here. You probably don't need to add more than one layer at a time, and from the precautions it would probably be safer to try one treatment at a time and then wait at least a day to see what happens before doing the next one. As someone mentioned, you might go too deep otherwise. I like the idea someone mentioned of using a tiny paintbrush, localized treatment makes sense.

If the salicylic acid doesn't work for me, I would probably try first to get some 35% H2O2 and then the glycolic acid -- or maybe the reverse, will see.... Smile

Anyway - the only difference between the unbuffered and buffered glycolic acid solutions should be that the buffered glycolic acid has other chemicals added to help maintain the pH (measure of acidity) at the specified level (pH 2.1 or pH 2.6) after the bottle is opened and other stuff might get in or as the solution ages and some of the glycolic acid breaks down maybe. (Buffers are added generally to solutions for this purpose, to keep the acidity constant when the composition of the solution changes slightly.) The pH 2.1 version is more acidic than the pH 2.6 versions, because of the way the pH number is defined: pH 7 is neutral (skin pH tends to be a little acidic, often around pH 6), pH values above 7 are basic and pH values below 7 are acidic. I would personally consider something with pH 2.1 to be a strong acid.

To explain a little bit: The pH number is defined so that a one unit change in pH (e.g., from pH 7 to pH 6) means a ten-fold difference in hydrogen ion H+ concentration, which is what makes something acidic for these kinds of acids: when the OH- or hydroxyl ion concentration is greater than the hydrogen ion concentration, the solution behaves as a base (basic or alkaline) in reactions. It's all in comparison with neutral water which has equal numbers of OH- and H+ from partial dissociation of water H2O]: the hydrogen ion concentration and the hydroxyl ion concentration in neutral water are both 10(-7) [superscript -7] moles/liter where one mole does not mean another skin affliction but a certain number of things (ions in this case). The 10(-7) means 10 to the minus 7th power or one divided by ten to the 7th power (10 million) or in this case, 1/(10 million) or one tenth of 1 millionth of a mole. Since a mole is equal to about 6 times 10 to the 23rd power (1 followed by 23 zeroes...), that's a lot of ions. Pure water is electrically neutral because of the equal numbers of positive and negative ions, but once you add human sweat and such into the mix it becomes conducting. Hence the advice not to drop anything electrically live into the tub... You become part of the circuit.

Anyway - I would strongly advise using eye protection while doing such acid treatments (I'm wussy enough that I would do this even if treating off the face). It doesn't take much to cause real problems in the eye - if something knocks your hand while treating your leg or if you drop something, a little could possibly splash in your eye. At least wear sunglasses if you don't usually wear glasses. Safety goggles and safety glasses (plastic) can usually be purchased at a hardware store and they are handy to have when doing anything risky, such as when using drain decloggers.

At the very least, have something handy (like a shot glass, although cupped hands can do in a pinch or you can try immersing your eye in a basin, or tilt a glass of water against the eye but keep changing the water) and a source of cold water (or lukewarm for comfort) so if any little bit does get into your eye, you can flush it right away with gobs and gobs of water. Keep at it for at least 15 to 30 minutes, the water is diluting the acid. Consider how quickly the SK responds to the acid according to these reports and be afraid, be very afraid... You might need do keep doing it on your way to the ER. So another precaution would be to not do it while alone if possible. The other person can be calling for emergency instructions while you're flushing, so the experts can tell you if vigorous flushing is sufficient or more medical attention is necessary. Put the 800 number on the bottle on speed dial (preferably on your cell phone, which of course you have right next to you or in your pocket during this procedure) and call while flushing otherwise.

You can see why the eye protection approach is much more sensible! Really. Really. Really.

free skin care · Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:17 am

jwoolman - welcome to the forum! Smile

Thank you for the detailed post, and safety precautions part of it!

What kind of SK you are trying to treat? Are you planning to treat SK on your face?

free skin care · Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:50 pm

Antonia wrote:

Update: three evenings ago, I applied the 17% Scholls Salicylic Acid corn/callus remover to the SKs on my shoulders and tummy. I repeated twice a day and, this morning, they peeled right off!!! I was going to spend a fortune having them lasered so I'm thrilled about this.

I just put some on the teeny-weeny skin tags to the front of my underarms.

An update to this posting. The little suckers came back... Rolling Eyes

(Keratoses, not skin tags.)

Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:31 pm

Hello, all. I just recently found this forum and thread. My food grade H20@ was delivered today, and I've given it a try on a couple of SKs. I had expected an immediate burning, but it was a pretty delayed reaction (used a Q-tip.) It actually felt like a s-l-o-w motion version of a liquid nitrogen application.

We'll see what happens! Thanks for the great info.

free skin care · Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:59 pm

This is a really informative thread...thanks for starting it mpstat!

Harvoolio - Have you received any info on whether H202 has a negative effect on hair follicles? I've been having SK removed for about 30 years, usually via liquid nitrogen. There is a real skill involved removing SK because if there is a tiny speck left, it will return. This has happened only once to me and that was very recently. Contrary to what you were told at Kaiser, I've seen a number of dermatologists to get treated (because I've moved around geographically) and not one has ever cut-and-stitched them and some of these drs. were at top hospitals. The "scar" derms mention is usually a pale whitish or flesh-toned area which, to me, is preferable to the dirty brown, warty look of a SK - and the area doesn't itch anymore. I'm very curious about the H202 and hair growth question because hydrogen peroxide is used in all hair color products and I can't imagine it destroying follicles, even at a higher concentration. I tend to agree with Surferguy that a SK will block hair since I can verify this from my own experience.

Surferguy - Thank you so much for the clarity of your posts.

BTW, all of the derms I have seen over the years have cautioned me about putting anything on newly burned-off SKs to assist healing because you can cause more trouble than its worth and end up delaying healing.

Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:27 pm

I have just found this thread and am delighted after years of wrestling with these horrible lesions. I have the unfortunate honour of having the SKs all over my chest (under my breasts) which causes no end of problems with bras and clothing in general.

Has anyone had any experience of treating this area specifically? The main problems are that the whole area breaks down and bleeds regularly (after the underwire in my bra rubs)and also the healthy skin inevitably gets in the way if I try to apply anything to the SKs. I am also rather well endowed in that department so it makes it doubly difficult!

Any suggestions on how to apply to that tricky area? Confused

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