Unfortunately, acne has no boundaries. It is more common for teenagers, but it can affect people of all ages and about equally between men and women. Acne can appear anywhere you have oil glands in your skin, so it can occur on your back, face, stomach or chest. Body acne is not the result of poor hygiene.
Breakouts on your chest
This is one of the most common sites for body acne, especially for those who live an active lifestyle, says Dr. Lee.
Acne typically appears on your face, forehead, chest, upper back and shoulders because these areas of skin have the most oil (sebaceous) glands. Hair follicles are connected to oil glands.
While sweating can clear up your pores, the presence of dirt, oil, and dead cells blocking them may cause you to develop body acne. Cleaning your skin regularly is the best way to remedy this. Sun exposure can also be the culprit for body acne. When you get sunburnt, your skin dries out.
Body acne, like facial acne, can be inflammatory or non-inflammatory. Genetics, hormones, and stress may also cause it. OTC cleansers, medicated lotions, AHAs, and combination products may help to clear mild body acne. However, more moderate to severe cases may require prescription-strength treatment.
Taking a shower is a good way to not only reduce your chance of developing body acne, but also reduces new breakouts from happening in the first place. Taking daily showers can help flush contaminants down the drain. It is important that you do so every day regardless of how much you sweat or how little.
High-dose vitamins B6 and B12 have also been linked to rosacea fulminans, a condition that looks like acne. Rosacea is marked by large red bumps and pustules that typically appear on the nose, chin, and/or cheeks.
Although vaping does not appear to directly cause acne, certain chemicals in e-cigarettes and the device itself could irritate the skin and worsen acne. The liquid inside an e-cigarette contains many substances that may cause skin irritation, such as diacetyl, diethylene glycol, cadmium, and benzene.
“Folliculitis on the buttocks typically develops because of friction between clothing and the skin, combined with sweating, which disrupts the outer skin layer.”
Acne is a common issue for many people, especially for teenagers and young adults in their 20s. Some have mild symptoms, while others can have very severe issues. Acne effects around 90% of adolescents with the prime age across all genders being the teenage years of 14-19 years old.
Stress acne typically presents as an array of small, red or pink pimples that can be scattered across various areas of the face. These facial acne pimples often take the form of whiteheads or blackheads and can progress into pustules, which are red, pus-filled bumps, or papules, which are small, raised bumps.
Pustules are a type of pimple that contains yellowish pus. They are larger than whiteheads and blackheads. Home remedies and over-the-counter creams may help treat pustules. Pustules appear either as red bumps with white centers or as white bumps that are hard and often tender to the touch.
Forehead and nose
It's a prime locale for classic blackheads and whiteheads because this area tends to have bigger pores and sebaceous glands than other parts of your face. This type of acne is called comedonal acne.
The pores on the back are easy to clog because they are larger than in other places. Because these pores are larger, the lesions that appear on the back are typically bigger, more painful, and more widespread than those that develop on the face.
"When you get it from a medicine, it tends to all look the same. It's all little, red papules or it's all little pustules, and they're kind of all the same shape and size. That's the giveaway that it could be medicine-related." Acneiform drug eruptions can happen in someone with no history of true acne, Garner says.
Caffeine and Alcohol: Consuming coffee increase the cortisol levels in our system. Cortisol is our stress hormone. Consumption of caffeine can cause high levels of cortisol which causes acne. The rise in these levels can cause an overproduction of sebum which also causes acne.
In the randomized controlled trial of 39 acne patients with vitamin D deficiency, oral vitamin D supplementation produced a significant improvement in acne inflammation.
Contrary to common assumptions, Vitamin B12 deficiency doesn't directly lead to weight gain. However, it can indirectly influence weight through its impact on energy metabolism. Insufficient B12 can lead to fatigue and weakness, which may reduce physical activity levels and, in turn, lead to weight gain.
Start your day with high fibre breakfast cereals such as porridge, natural muesli or wheat biscuits. Swap white bread for whole grain or rye varieties. Choose pasta and basmati rice instead of other varieties of white rice. Add legumes, tofu, lentils or chickpeas to stews and salads.
Ice doesn't necessarily help clear up acne or pimples — particularly if you're suffering from cystic and nodular acne — but it can help inflammation. This works because acne is an inflammatory condition meaning that it causes flare-ups that contribute to swelling and redness.