Hello all! Hopefully you’re not getting walloped by a snow storm now as it seems we are preparing for here.  I must admit though, I kind of miss the fluffy white stuff. It’s so much prettier to look at in the long winters here in Ohio than the grey, brown, sloppy ground that inhabits the scape in the winter time.

Been such a mild winter I’m starting to wonder if we’ll even get to wear our new toques we bought (his and hers) so my hubby and I can shovel the driveway without freezing.  I digress. Clearly, this is to inform you about a new page we have added here at Acnemagazine.com that I wanted to make sure you know about.

It’s a page about back acne and the treatments and products that are available to treat it. Back acne is second only to  facial acne.  Often times if someone has severe facial acne, they will also have back acne to some varying degree.

It can be hard to treat properly simply due to its awkward location on the body and the fact that we are only made to twist so many ways to get to the various areas of our bodies.  However, there are several products that are vital to getting back acne addressed and minimized quickly.

We talk about these, and some techniques and tips on getting rid of back acne in our new informational page Products for Back Acne.  Enjoy, and remember, please feel free to make comments or suggestions about your experiences in this area.

Have there been times where you think you may have broken out in a spot where breakouts can and do happen, like your back, your belly, or your neck?  But it’s a little different, like it’s just small spots everywhere, almost like an irritation, but it looks just like it could be acne because some of them are red and inflamed like acne lesions would be?

Well, you’re not alone. And most people who also happen to have acne often mistake a simple allergic reaction or a rash because of an illness, for an acne breakout, because that is what they are used to happening to their skin.

I actually had this happen, of all places, in Las Vegas when I was getting married to my now-husband. It happened to me because I had an odd allergic reaction to vitamin B – a lot of it.

You see, I was paranoid that I would get tired and not be able to enjoy Vegas for all the fun you can have there and because there were some friends and family that came with us, I wanted to be able to give energy to hanging out with everyone (which was nearly impossible in the end). 

So, I brought a bunch of those little 5 Hour Energy drinks with me, and one day I drank like two of them ( whole ones) so that I wouldn’t get tired. Well, my stomach broke out in a rash from drinking them.

I later found out that when you take in too much Niacin, which is found in abundance in 5 Hour Energy, because it is a form of a B vitamin, some people can actually break out in a hive-like rash from having too much of it. 

To look at this particular rash though, you would have thought it was some sort of an acne breakout. The postules that broke out were red and swollen, but small and much more abundant than an actual acne breakout would have been. They were close together too, not widely dispersed like acne can be, and there were a LOT of them.

I only correlated it to the niacin as an allergic reaction because it went away as soon as I stopped drinking the energy drinks. Otherwise, I probably would have thought it was some weird body acne breakout that was related to the stress and anxiety of getting married and having all those people with us.

It is natural biproduct of being a teenager, whether you are a boy or a girl. However, more and more, adults up to the age of even 50 years old are suffering from back acne as well. In most of the cases, it affects to people feel as self-conscious which can lead to social isolation or basically never revealing one’s back, whether swimming in a bathing suit or wearing those fun skimpier summer shirts. First we all should understand the causes of acne (Spot, bad skin, a skin condition) before to go discussing home remedies for back acne.

It is the proliferation of sebum which is secreted by the sebaceous glands. The sebaceous glands produce oil on the back, not just the face and chest, especially between the shoulder blades, and this causes people who are acne prone in the first place to break out in this location. The sebum clogs pore and hair follicles through oil and dead cells, thereby attracting bacteria into the skin’s pores and infecting them.

This irritates the skin on the back and leads to the dreaded onset of back acne, which some view as tough to treat because of the hard to reach area. Things like menstruation and pregnancy in females can even lead to back acne.

Sometimes even hereditary factors also contribute to this nuisance of a problem. Even food allergies (like milk and cheese) can cause acne and back acne. Cosmetic and body care products that are not suitable for your body’s chemistry can only irritate this problem further, which is why it is important to choose the right acne treatment products to help get rid of that back acne and treat it on an ongoing basis.

The treatment of this malady will be the same regardless of the actual cause. We are going to talk about ways to both treat and prevent back acne from occurring so you can go out in that cute tube top, tank, or bikini without feeling self conscious about your gorgeous, sexy back.

To maintain your self Hygiene: Take a bath or shower, and be sure to thoroughly wash your back daily to keep your back free of dirt, oil and debris that collects there and clogs pores. Especially if you have laid out in the sun or put any sort of sunscreen or pore clogging lotions on your back (this may even require one shower in the morning and one at night, to remove built up debris from the day). Try using a good antibacterial and skin sloughing acne treatment hygiene soap like neem or anti bacteria, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, or tea tree, whichever works for you.

Don’t rub the back side too hard or exfoliate aggressively. After any kind of tough physical activity, cleanse the back as your back sweats a lot when you sweat. The clothes which you are wearing that should be neat and clean and laundered, as dirty clothes can actually aggravate back acne. Make sure you use water based soaps and cleansers only on your back.

Some smaller, finer points on how to avoid back acne are : Sleeping Posture: Sleeping on your side may help back acne and sweating, although I like to sleep on my back personally. Always keep your blankets and bed sheet, pillow cover etc neat and clean.

Try to wear breathable materials on hot summer days to avoid excessive back sweat as well, this will help to keep your back aired out and dry, and oil free.

There are a lot of people who suffer not only acne on their face, which is bad enough, and I have to say, the worst place to have acne in my opinion, but I’m biased because that’s where I’ve always had the worst problem with my acne before, but they also have acne pretty badly on their body.

It may be on their back or chest usually , the two most common areas besides the face to have acne because of where and how many oil glands there are in these areas and how they react and collect dust, sweat an oil.

There are some products though, that are made especially for body acne that help to gently cleanse the pores and keep further acne breakouts from occurring.

Many of these products are body washes, which I think is the best way, rather than using a soap lathering bar, to deeply penetrate and lather adequately to clear away all debris and oil that causes body acne, as well as to effectively deposit acne fighting ingredients such as salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide deep into the skin so that you won’t suffer too many acne breakouts in the future.

Body acne can be incredibly embarrassing, especially in the summer when we tend to strip down to the bare minimum for clothing and things like racer back tank tops and bikinis become more of the norm for clothing.

Not only that, but a lot of people with severe body acne complain that sometimes it may even prevent them from getting intimate with someone for fear their body acne will be discovered. Now, I know this is a pretty severe case, but anything that causes that severe of duress needs to be addressed. Luckily, body acne is treatable, and often times it just takes the right practices and the right products to get results in clearing this embarrassing acne away.

Question :

Hi,
What does acne on your body mean?  I am not sure what criteria are important.  Can you please guide me.
A little advice would go a long way right now.
I am very grateful for your help.

Answer :

Hello.  Acne on your body, like acne on your facial area, can mean many things.  Mostly it signals an imbalance of hormones, since most acne is hormonally related.  There are several things that can help your body acne, and one of the biggest I’m a proponent of is diet.

Limiting caffeine and stimulants or eliminating them, avoiding sugar and increasing your fruit and vegetable intake, and drinking lots of water is preferable.  Also, try adding fresh lemon juice to your water, it helps with clarity and tone.

There are some great body acne products that can help you get rid of your body acne as well that are specially formulated to target this acne, which can be treated a bit more agressively usually since other areas of the body are not as sensitive as the facial skin, which is exposed to many more environmental pollutants than the rest of the body.

You will want to make sure you’re wearing light and breathable clothing if you’re out in the hot sun or you’re in an environment where sweat and grime can build up under the clothing and potentially clog the pores.  Keep areas like your back as clean and free of oil as you can, as this is one of the more common places to get acne.

Hope this all helps, and good luck with your anti-acne regimen!

Bookmark us at bookmarks to keep up with the latest on body acne.

If you’ve ever read anything about the detrimental effects of steroid use, as in the non-legal type of use that some athletes and body builders use, which is the kind that is the worst since it is not medically supervised and these guys have no idea what they’re getting, then you know that the side effects are anything but savory, and it’s a wonder that anyone would actually willingly submit themselves to such torture just to get a bigger, more muscular body, even if their profession depends on it.  Not to mention, ew, guys who are on steroids just look gross to me!

My personal opinion aside, it’s a good thing that steroids have been cracked down on.  Even the professional WWE wrestlers are now pretty much going to have to be clean, and you see a lot of them slimming down and reducing their muscle tone if you watch that kind of stuff, so it’s obvious that they’re not willing to risk their careers any more just to look bigger, plus I have an inkling that they might be getting periodically tested for them.

One of the many unsavory side effects of steroid use, and this includes medically necessary and non medically necessary steroid use, is that it causes awful back acne.  It can alos cause terrible facial and body acne, but one of the more common places for steroid-driven acne to show up is on the back.  Back acne is particularly hard to treat because it is on an area of the body that is hard to reach.  Have you ever tried to apply a zit cream to your back, and specifically in the places where you need to?  It’s tough!

It’s no wonder that so many have a harder time treating and keeping back acne under control than they do acne that is on their face and other easily reached areas.  Often times prednisone, which is prescribed to patients for a variety of reasons causes back acne and has people who havent’ thought about acne in years searching for ways to treat acne that magically pops up on their back, shoulders, and sometimes chest.  Hormonal acne is very hard to treat, see this recommended hormonal acne treatment for more information on that.
Steroids cause massive acne because they cause imbalances in the female and male hormones in the body, and this disruption literally causes the skin to erupt.  If you saw some of the pictures of men who have broken out in back acne specifically from steroid use, the cases are many times severe and need serious treatment to help them.  They are often large, inflamed, red and puss filled acne lesions that are deep and painful, because they are so hormonally based.  In short, steroids are bad, don’t ever think of doing them if not for reasons that are medical and (hopefully) temporary.

It’s swimsuit and skimpy clothes season, and that means that you are probably meaning to pay a little more attention to that area of your body you scarcely get a direct look at, and definitely don’t pay much mind to when it comes to beautification of upkeep (I’m guilty of this too, believe me, I’m not being accusatory).  However, now that the skimpy backless and barely there clothes are all the rage, and we like to wear less clothes for those hot days when our backs sweat and every other part of our body gets hot, sweaty and oily, we all want to pay more attention to our backs.

Backs are a funny thing.  We don’t really pay much attention to them because we generally can’t see them – but other people can.  Backs can be very sexy and alluring.  Or they can definitely need a few good facials – or shall I say “bacials” or something of the sort, since it’s really for your back area?

Well, it looks like one of the best things you can do, or you can maybe have a partner of close friend do for you, is to use a clay mask for your back to help get the process going to a clear, clean and dirt free, and blackhead and whitehead free, back.  Clay masks are a great way to suck up extra oil and help to unclog sebum from clogged pores. 

Clear Pores has a body acne system that works wonders for those with back acne and acne in areas other than their face, but you can also find a simple clay mask at your local drugstore for no more than a couple bucks that can help get you on your way to a fresher, cleaner looking back that is bump free, even toned and ready for the summer. 

Clay masks work to help eliminate bacteria, which can aggravate and even cause acne lesions and bumps, the latter which is the most common on the back area since this area is not commonly arrated enough and often stays in the dark and damp for too long, and may also be susceptible to acne in the first place depending on how active a person’s oil glands are back there to begin with. 

Doing a clay mask on the back once or twice a week in the warm weather can help to smooth that rough skin and also to unplug the pores and keep the oil production under control, just make sure you don’t leave them on too long.  Overdrying is as bad as overly oily, so be careful with how long you leave them on for.  Just let them dry thoroughly and take them off, don’t let it sit overnight or anthing or you can just aggravate the situation more. 

 

For the past few years, I’ve suffered from periodic night sweats that range from mild to severe. By severe, I mean I wake up with my pajamas literally drenched, and the sheets where I laid also drenched to match.Many times a severe night sweat will wake me up out of a dead sleep, simply because I’m drenched and once the air hits me, I actually get cold.Unfortunately, this is a fairly common problem with women due to our tendency for hormonal imbalances, and also unfortunate is the fact that sweating makes our backs more prone to acne breakouts.When I have a run of night sweats, I can almost guarantee that my back will break out in those acne bumps that usually aren’t inflamed looking, but nonetheless they are visible.

We talked last time on how to get rid of back acne, or “backne” as it is affectionately called by some sufferers with a sense of humor, which often leaves people feeling defeated, because it is more difficult to reach and to treat that acne that is on the front of our body, such as our face or chest. 

Well, now I wanted to delve into the causes of back acne a little and see how we can possibly avoid back acne, or at least curb its severity by changing a few little things we do. 

We kind of talked about the importance of wearing light, breathable clothes last time in an effort to stave off too much sweating, which irriates the pores, and attracts dirt and grime like a magnet, which suffocates the skin, and begs for a clogged pore (acne lesion) to happen. 

People who bundle up a little too much may notice that their back acne flares up because they are too warm and are attracting dirt to this somewhat pore-sensitive area of the back.  You see, back acne is caused by overzealous oild glands in the back, which tend to flare up and produce too much oil on some people, while other people with facial acne may not have any problems at all on their back. 

It’s just a matter of what the oil glands are like at this particular location, there really is no other explanation for it at this time.   Another good idea for curbing the causes of “backne” is to take cotton pads and a gentle waterless cleanser or toner with you during the day and rub it down once a day between your morning shower and when you get home from work. 

This will help reduce the likelihood of buildup up the gunky stuff that makes your back breakout.

When my acne was in “full swing” as a teenager starting at about 14, and also in my adulthood into my twenties and late twenties, I mostly broke out on my face, but occasionally, I did notice I would get back acne, and it was very difficult to find a way to get rid of it since it was in a hard-to-reach place. 

The first important thing is, if you are a woman and you get back acne, make sure you are washing your bras almost every night, if possible.  I know this sounds like a pain, as I myself tend to wear my bras a few days in a row to avoid washing them too much, but there can be a significant amount of dirt and bacteria that build up on your bra and irritate your back, making it more prone to back acne when it rubs up against you. 

The primary cause of back acne is excess oil production in the back oil glands.  Since the back is a hard to reach area, it also doesn’t often get the thorough cleansing that something more reachable and noticeable, say our face, would get.  We need to make sure we are cleansing our back properly with a noncomedogenic acne body cleanser preferably. 

To adequately reach the back, we can buy a sponge on a stick, that allows us to reach between the shoulder blades where a lot of back acne occurs, and helps us to get rid of that built up bacteria, oil and dirt that ends to collect back there due to sweating and just regular daily activity. 

When it is hot outside, you will want to avoid wearing clothing that is too heavy for the season.  Light, airy fabrics will allow the back to “breathe” and not get congested with dirt, grime, grease and sweat, all of which are back acne irritants, and a key to getting rid of back acne by prevention.

You may also use a light toner on the back, at least the parts you can reach yourself.  Have your significant other doe it for you if you can’t reach the areas that are prone to break out.  The toner will just help to de-oil the skin back there and prevent future breakouts so that you have a nice, clean back when you wake up every morning.