SEVERE! acne on back becoming a very serious problem...

LegacyUser

Right, well I'm 21 years old, and I've got a horribly severe case of acne all over my back!

I was pretty spotty when I was younger, and I just thought I'd grow out of it all, and while my face is pretty spot-free, my back has gotten worse with maturity. I pretty much washed regularly, daily if I can help it, but this hasn't helped with my back at all...

I kinda got the idea recently that it's not something that's going to go away any time soon and I've started washing myself even more than usual trying to help this problem... At the weekend I had a loooong bath in the morning and a good shower in the evening, this hasn't helped either.

It's really a big problem, because it seems if I get anyways hot, or exert myself, I start to get all itchy and really very hot! Then all my back starts stinging dreadfully! It's awfully painfull. Sometimes this might happen if I've just been round the corner to go to the shop, and for 10 minutes or so, I'd be scratching and trying to cool off, drinking water, and washing myself down.

Sometimes it's so bad once I get home I hate to strip off and wash myself.

I've never heard of anyone else having such a problem, so I was very hesitant to write this, as it's quite embarressing too. And it's not to pleasing for the opposite sex when you've got a back covered in horrible spots.

Does ANYONE have any ideas at all?

acous

Does ANYONE have any ideas at all?

I wasn't going to reply but since you emphasised 'anyone' so much... My experience was with eczema which is another skin condition so while the details might be different the overall idea is the same.

Are you sure it's acne? could it be eczema or some other kind of dermatitis? I had a bit of acne in school and I don't remember it being itchy or stingy like eczema. As far as I know, acne (and probably eczema) is caused mainly by hormones so no matter how much you clean it, you're not treating the root cause. Search for older threads on this board about acne.

On the other hand you could be allergic to something. Do you sleep on your back? Maybe you're allergic to your sheets? the detergent used to wash your sheets? You get the idea.

My advice would be see a doctor either way. It's no big deal really, s/he'll probably have a look and give you a prescription for maybe a steroid cream or something. After that I'd look at diet and lifestyle because you don't wanna be rubbing cream on your back for the rest of your life.

Are you male or female? just curious as you seemed to cleverly avoid saying in your post

aodh_rua

Go see your GP! If it is acne there are a range of treatments from anti-biotics through to Roaccutane.

Roaccutane is very controversial though. I've heard awful things about the side effects including depression, leading to suicide in some cases, but I'm not a doctor.

I have acne on my upper back, a few as in like 5 sometimes, very small, but if you tough them they can swell up, get itchy and painful. The back and neck are very sensitive.

I use a thing called Neutrogena cleanser, it is green and is expensive, about €30 available in boots. It clears up spots in no time, but you HAVE to use moisturiser with it, and not use it too much or you could really damage your skin.

Turner

Washing/different soaps/clearasil/diet/drinking gallons of water -all have no effect on severe acne.
You are only wasting your time.

Get a referral from your GP to go see a dermatologist who will conduct a blood test to see if you are ok to take a course of roaccutane.

Then you can never wash, eat pure lard, drink no water only beer and never fear a dreaded spot again.

Worked for me, all acne gone hopefully never to return. Only side effects were dry lips for the 8 weeks i was on it. (1 year ago now).

aodh_rua

Originally posted by David Lynch
Roaccutane is very controversial though. I've heard awful things about the side effects including depression, leading to suicide in some cases, but I'm not a doctor.

I have acne on my upper back, a few as in like 5 sometimes, very small, but if you tough them they can swell up, get itchy and painful. The back and neck are very sensitive.

I use a thing called Neutrogena cleanser, it is green and is expensive, about €30 available in boots. It clears up spots in no time, but you HAVE to use moisturiser with it, and not use it too much or you could really damage your skin.

I've been on it twice and while it does make you less energetic, I think a lot of the depression may be due to the acne rather than the cure. I was lucky just to have it on my back so it was fine. I'd imagine more obvious cases could lead to the depression attributed to the drug.

Gordon

Go to a doctor.