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Treating
Body
Acne
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For many acne
sufferers, facial acne is just one part of the problem.
Pimples can also crop up on your back and body, and treating
them may prove even more difficult than combating blemishes
on your face. Body acne can take any of the typical forms,
including whiteheads, blackheads, pustules or cysts.
However, the typical treatments won’t always work due to the
thicker, tougher nature of the skin on places like your
back. The challenge of simply reaching these areas may also
make traditional treatments impractical.
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What's worth
trying
The important
thing to remember with body acne is that the skin on your
back and body is more likely to suffer from a buildup of
dirt and dead cells, since we generally cleanse and
exfoliate these areas less often than we do our faces. As
such, the first step you should take is making sure that
you’re washing properly (and consistently) in the shower.
Buy a gentle, good quality body wash and make sure
you wash thoroughly every day, including those hard-to-reach
spots. It will help further if you apply the body wash to a
textured bath sponge - one that will act to exfoliate
your skin as you scrub.
Speaking of exfoliation, several companies offer body
acne sprays which use chemical agents such as salicylic
acid or glycolic acid to help you shed those dead skin cells
before they can get a chance to build up and clog your
pores.
As usual, natural supplements can prove effective,
particularly for more serious forms of body acne such as
pustules or cysts. Regardless of where they crop up, these
types of acne are still mainly caused by excess skin oil,
and an oral supplement (vitamin B5, vitamin A or zinc) will
naturally treat your whole body, not just the oil glands on
your face.
One of the big hassles of body acne is that even mild scars
or discoloration can take forever to fade. You can speed
this process by enhancing your exfoliation and blood
circulation. Besides the above-mentioned exfoliants, getting
a little sun will help promote both of these functions, and
supplements such as B5 can improve circulation.
What's
not
worth trying
Traditional
spot treatments don't make much sense for treating body
acne. They're typically less effective, because the thicker
skin that covers most of your body makes it harder for these
treatments to penetrate. Moreover, simply reaching certain
spots (such as on your back) so as to apply these treatments
can prove impractical. Also note that benzoyl peroxide - one
of the most common ingredients in spot treatments - can
bleach fabrics, thus ruining your clothes, sheets or even
furniture if you're not careful. Frankly, it's not worth the
trouble.
A frequent and
bad solution that many use to combat body acne is
tanning. Granted, getting a little sun isn't a bad idea.
As mentioned above, it can promote both exfoliation and
circulation, and also help your body produce sufficient
vitamin D. However, getting a lot of sun in an
attempt to mask acne via darkening your skin tone is not
smart. You can potentially do real damage to your skin this
way, not to mention causing yourself to get fine lines and
wrinkles prematurely.
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