Acne on your back

[zerohalo]

Blech, this is embarrassing to talk about but I figure my friends at ENA could offer some advice. I've wrestled with acne for my entire life, and I'm finally starting to get it under control on my face using Proactiv, but I'm a little unsure how I can get things better on my back. I'm separated, I don't have a third arm, and there's not enough booze in the world to ask my roommate for assistance.

 

Does anyone have some advice on how to reach those tricky spots on your back with a product like proactiv?

[butterflies]

Try Clinique anti-blemish solutions. Just spray it and you're done.

[afonselaca]

You need a sponge/rag on a long handle, something along the lines of a back brush scrubber. I haven't seen anything like that with a sponge/rag probably because it would waste so much product.

 

 

 

sidenote: I take a zinc supplement and that really helps. I rub tea tree oil on my chest, shoulders, back, neck and face. I haven't tried Proactiv because at the point of my back driving me crazy, I found tea tree oil and it worked wonders within a few weeks. Proactiv was to be my last resort

[Siriana]

Try yoga. lol

I had acne on my back and it took me a while to get rid of them.

My dermatologist gave me some pills and a cream - it was 6 months torutre but i am clear now!.

And I had to apply the cream every evening on my back!

You can make it with some practice.

[Aurian]

I have a similar problem and I found Neutrogena body wash really good. Its got the chemicals for treating acne. I just kinda soap up myself with a back-scrubber thingy and it definitely works.

[applepie]

You need a sponge/rag on a long handle, something along the lines of a back brush scrubber. I haven't seen anything like that with a sponge/rag probably because it would waste so much product.

 

 

 

sidenote: I take a zinc supplement and that really helps. I rub tea tree oil on my chest, shoulders, back, neck and face. I haven't tried Proactiv because at the point of my back driving me crazy, I found tea tree oil and it worked wonders within a few weeks. Proactiv was to be my last resort

 

I wash myself with a rag on a stick.

[katie831]

hee hee does anyone else think 'rag on a stick' sounds really funny and hill billyish?...

you can use proactive anywhere so if i were you i'd get your self a back brush with softish bristles (too harder bristle could aggrivate the spots) and squeeze some of the cleanser onto the brush and scrub away

good luck

[vandgsmom]

I have a loofah on a stick that exfoliates for me, but I can also dislocate my shoulders to reach any spot on my back....

 

I second the tea tree oil. When I am tres hormonal and breakout on my shoulders it does wonders!

[Katerimo]

try: link removed

[charley]

Oh ya man, I can tell you for sure. At least what works for me.

 

I had acne as a teen, then went away in 20s. However, in 30s I got this new miracle drug for arthritis that my earlier severe injuries had caused, or to be accurate - activated arthur. i.e. - activated arthur young instead of as a senior.

 

Any how, that new miracle drug suppresses my immune system to control arthur. Then acne came back. So I started doing what I'd done to get rid of it in my early 20s.

 

Two things are very effective, IME. One is sun bathing. The UV penetrates your skin deeper than alcohol or anything else can. It disinfects the surface and under the surface a bit. Bacteria, molds, and viruses lack skin to protect them from UV. As skinless organisms, they are very easily killed by UV. So a bit of sun, less than would burn you (even if fair skinned like me), will easily kill the germs, which kills the acne.

 

I've found this immensely effective. Problem is that we only have about 3 months of sun in my climate, at most. I mean sun where it's warm enough to take off shirt and where the sun is at an angle in sky to be strong enough.

 

You can go do artificial tanning when the sun is not available. It works to, a friend tells me. I've never done it. I want to start soon though.

 

I use alcohol in the months without sun. My dad, or mom, or one of my women friends (she volunteered and insisted on helping me) will put some 99% rubbing alcohol (stronger the better) on a terry wash cloth and scrub my back with it. I find that twice a week is adequate to keep my back acne free. Has to be a terry wash cloth and a hard rub. Hard enough to sting and hurt slightly.

 

FYI - right after you sunbath or get an alcohol rub, do NOT put the same shirt back on because you are just putting the germs back. Always have a clean shirt to put on afterwards.

 

The above is a cure at best, and at worst, it still controls it very well.

 

During the time I had a lung infection recently, I did not leave home much. So no alcohol rubs for me, and obviously no sun or tanning. The acne came back on me and it's like falling dominos. One zit makes another and another. It spreads.

 

Well, I'm feeling better now. So one of my first priorities is some alcohol. If you use Vodka, that works to, and the poor bastard who has to do the deed can have a shot first.

 

The sun controls and prevents the infectious aspect of acne (white heads and redness). However, the sun does little to help with blackheads (grease in pores).

 

To solve the grease in pores issue that makes black heads, do all of these things:

 

1) Whenever you shower, use a back scrubber brush with soap on it and SCRUB. Any soap works: shampoo, hand soap like Irish Spring. Dove and related moisturizer bars are greasy and will only add to your problem. You aren't dry, you are oily. Avoid skin moisturizers. The soap scrubbing removes blackheads at same time it disinfects whiteheads. But you have to scub hard enough to bust those things open. Yuck and owe, but if you do this with brush and soap, the problem goes away.

 

2) Reduce the fat and oils in your diet as much as possible. Not only will you be slimmer and live longer, but your skin won't be so oily, so you'll form less blackheads.

 

3) The alcohol rubs dissolve the oils from your skin, which includes dissolving the black heads. The rub is done with a terry wash cloth and rubbed hard enough to hurt a little. This cleans all pores out very well and disinfects.

 

Be aware that to clean out your pores (by alc rub, water soap and brush in shower, etc), you need HEAT. That means a WARM room for alc rub, or hot water for shower, brush, soap routine. The heat will open your pores, which allows the terry wash cloth and alc, or brush bristles and soap to get inside the pores and clean them. If your body is cold, the pores will be closed and you can't clean them.

 

4) As soon as you get out of the hot shower, into your hot room (I crank heat up to 90 degrees in my entire place 20 minutes before staring shower), then take a terry towel and towel off as usual first, then scrub your face dry with some force, then scrub your back with towel as hard as you can to clean out pores. That towel is now contaminated and cannot be used again until washed.

 

5) Also, change your sheets and pillow case once a week for clean ones, and wash bedding weekly if you have time, or monthly at least. Weekly is better. You don't want your bedding spreading and reintroducing bacteria that you scrubbed off earlier. Spray your chairs with either alcohol or Fabreeze once a week for a while, then once this is under control, once a month. That prevents chairs from spreading acne.

 

6) Drink more water. It helps flush out oils from your system better, I've heard. I don't know why, but it really does help reduce black heads.

 

All the above applies to face and back and anywhere you get zits. Except armpits or privates. If you ever get a zit in those places, do not put alcohol on it, unless you like intense burning pain. For those areas, sun is best. Not trying to turn you into a nudist, but it's true. You can tan nudey at a tanning salon in privacy.

 

7) Never wear the same shirt two days in a row, not even if it still smells clean.

 

The above does work. My mom and I figured the above out years ago and I swear it works very well.

[charley]

hee hee does anyone else think 'rag on a stick' sounds really funny and hill billyish?...

you can use proactive anywhere so if i were you i'd get your self a back brush with softish bristles (too harder bristle could aggrivate the spots) and squeeze some of the cleanser onto the brush and scrub away

good luck

 

I like my back brush bristles still enough to bust anything open so the soap can get in.

 

FYI - the most effective soap for killing acne is shaving cream. I know that because I've tried them all. Irish spring is also good.

[charley]

I have a loofah on a stick that exfoliates for me, but I can also dislocate my shoulders to reach any spot on my back....

 

Loofah, huh? Ya, that'd work good. That doesn't sound hill billyish at all (someone elses post). It sounds French, fancy, and sophisticated to me. Whatever works.

 

A terry wash rag used by another, or a back brush with medium to stiff bristles works same as a loofah, but doesn't sound as fancy.

[mitch17]

hey ive got acne aswell, i was on lotions and all of that, but i only use soap now. its great! i use it on my back and chest and all the zits have gone. its so much cheaper and all i have to do is wash my face twice a day

[BBHFutureAllAmerican]

just wash your back, and i also take zinc, vitamin a&d, chromium picolinate, and a multi-complex b vitamin, it's not really for my acne, but it's seemed to help it dramatically

[ghost69]

go see a dermatologist. proactiv is for suckers. the only true way to get rid of acne is at the source. your whole body produces excess oils. a face wash just calms it down for the time being. once you are out of wash, bam, it's back. tetracycline works as a medicated cream/pills for surface stuff in most people's cases. i ended up getting accutane. it was a little yellow pill that i would take like once a day. i had to get blood work done once a month to make sure my blood wasn't thinning too much. i haven't had acne since. completely gone. it does chap your lips bad. but if you stay on top of chapstick you should be good. i recommend this.

[EvaGina]

Use a back brush, but MAKE SURE that you dis-infect it... those things breed bacteria like a week-old egg sandwhich, so disinfect it and let it dry completely at least once a week

[EvaGina]

I wash myself with a rag on a stick.

Because your the fat, future Bart Simpson?

[Chele]

Try some antibacterial oils eg, lavender oil or eucalyptus, a few drops in the bath with some epsom salts.