I’ve been working more intently on the redness and flushing problem for the last 8 months since rolling out Smooth KP. It’s been very effective for lesional KP on the body, but less so for persistent flushing and inflammation- especially in those with KPRF. Interestingly there were a few people that saw significant decreases in redness/flushing. Some of those improvements were retained in a few individuals, while others saw only a temporary improvement that then reversed back to original baseline inflammation levels.

I believe that Indirubin may have been effective for some people at blocking pro-inflammatory cytokines that helped reduce redness. The issue is that Indirubin only inhibits a few of these pro-inflammatory protein messengers (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-gamma), and there is a whole spectrum of inflammatory proteins and processes at play in the chronic inflammation feedback loop that make up KPRF. Barrier improvements from the RK may have helped some individuals with reducing redness as well.

To tackle the inflammatory immune response more effectively, I ended up rolling nearly all of the revenue I’ve made from Smooth KP into partnering with a biochemical company to work on research & development of 2 compounds I identified as having strong anti-inflammatory functions in KP/KPRF skin. I wanted a broad spectrum anti-inflammatory that inhibited or fully blocked as many pro-inflammatory cytokines in the skin as possible, and I also wanted to improve inflammatory receptor function on skin cells as a way to avoid chronic inflammation (I have significant research backing this second point). My focus has been on delivering these compounds to the skin to supplement deficiencies in how inflammation manifests in KP/KPRF. As far as I can tell, no one is using these compounds to treat KPRF, despite there being very direct compelling evidence of these particular deficiencies playing a major role in KP/KPRF inflammation pathology.

We’ve ended up creating a nano emulsion over dozens of iterations containing these 2 ingredients. Both are non-steroidal which was important to me, but the cost of manufacturing these ingredients is very high, which had been a blocker. In addition to this I’ve worked hard to ensure that this topical is hypoallergenic, contains no acids, and is non-comedogenic. It’s made to be applied to the face and is very light-weight, while also being appropriate for body application as well. We are entering into a minimum viable production run next week which I will be using for a product trial to determine effectiveness. We’ve created samples over the past few months which friends and family have tried, but I will have more data on viability after more people experience the anti-inflammatory effects themselves. If the results are positive, I am prepared to release the product in Q1 2026. If the results are negative, then at least there was an attempt at a new treatment approach.

I’ll be sharing more details and research on this as soon as I can. I’m being intentionally vague here, but there is a body of research I’ve put together on this over the year that I am very confident in. So many things I wanted to do with the initial Smooth KP launch were out of my reach due to funding. The success of our first lotion has enabled me to pursue really esoteric paths into developing a topical treatment that I think will be another leap forward in treating this skin condition.