What Causes Back Acne?

Similar to other types of zits, back acne has no singular cause. It can be caused by a lot of things. However, experts agrees that the causes are similar to or the same with that of facial pimples. Back acne is also due to the overactive sebaceous glands producing too much sebum or oil. This may happen during puberty when the body is going through changes. It can also happen during menstruation or menopause in women.

There are other factors that may cause back acne formation. Some of these factors include:

1. Medications. There are drugs or medications that may trigger mild to severe breakouts. Lithium, a mood stabilizer, is known to cause back acne to people taking it.

2. Fabrics. There are clothing fabrics that may cause zits. People react differently to certain fabrics. What may irritate one person may not necessarily irritate another. Sometimes, it’s not the fabric but the tightness of the clothing that may cause zits. There are people who are fond in wearing tight clothing. This does not leave much room for air to circulate on their back so dirt, perspiration and oil are not free to leave the skin. They are stuck on the skin surface or pores and they eventually cause clogging. There are also men who wear backpacks or heavy bag. These bags can irritate the back. The rubbing motion of the bags and the straps on the back’s skin surface can cause back acne.

Can Food Cause Back Acne?

You bade goodbye to chocolates and French fries on your quest to get rid of zits on your back. That’s a commendable effort. However, it has been found out that food does not contribute a lot on zits. Food does not altogether cause or aggravate zits. Your diet may play a role on your facial acne but it does not play a role on your back acne.

However, if you’re comfortable with cutting chocolates and oily foods off of your diet, you’d certainly achieve more health benefits aside from treating your acne. Take note, however, of the changes in your acne with the absence of certain foods in your diet. If you feel that there’s a significant improvement on your back acne, then continue avoiding the foods that you feel may have contributed to the formation of pimples on your back. Adjusting your diet is not a bad idea at all. It certainly is commendable.

Can Back Acne Be Treated?

Definitely! Back acne can be treated. You can use OTC medications, prescription medications or even herbal remedies to treat them. You just have to determine the probable cause of your zits and then you can start with the treatment. For instance, if a medication like anti depression drugs is causing your zits, you should consider change of medications or adjustments of medications. Knowing the cause of your zits would give you a good idea on what method would be most effective in treating your acne.

It is often difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of most types of acne, back acne is no different. What is known is that irritation can make it worse. If acne is showing up more persistent in certain parts of your body, such as your back, perhaps it has to do with certain clothing or maybe a backpack. Tight fitting clothing contributes to promoting acne, by trapping sweat against the skin and clogging pores. Sometimes back acne is just caused by a hormone unbalance or poor diet.

Back Acne Treatment

The first part of controlling back acne is cleanliness; you should wash daily with a cleanser that contains salicylic acid. You should also shower immediately after engaging in any physical activity in which you were sweating. Follow up your shower with a body moisturizer that contains Alfa Hydroxy acid. This will exfoliate skin and help prevent breakouts, without drying skin out.

At night time, before going to bed, you can treat back acne the same as facial acne by applying a zapping gel or a cream to your acne.

If your back acne is light to moderate you could use a Regimen. The Regimen works well but remember that it contains benzoyl peroxide and it will have a bleaching effect on any clothing that comes into contact with it. I would suggest wearing white shirts if you plan on using this as your form of back acne treatment.

For stubborn acne and severe cases you may have to get an antibiotic prescription, or prescription strength Retin-A. Acne on the back is much more resistant to treatment and the skin is tougher, so it will need to be treated aggressively. As a last resort, you could try Accutane.

One homemade remedy you could try is by using a combination of lye soap and tea tree oil. This helps oily skin and will help reduce acne and make your skin soft.

Back Acne Tips

Although back acne is not as severe as other types of acne but when not treated properly it sometimes leads to scars and cysts.

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