How do body / back acne a.k.a bacne come about?
Body acne is caused by the same factors that trigger facial acne, that is, overactive oil glands, excess dead skin cells, and a proliferation of acne-causing bacteria. Oil and dead skin cells become trapped within the pore and create a blockage/clog. When the clog gets infected with bacteria, pimple forms. You can read more about different acne types here.
Below are some causes of Bacne
I will share some personal experience of myself having back acne and how I managed to get rid of them.
1) Using a body wash that is too rich. Many years back, a pretty famous brand had a new launch of ultra moisturizing body wash. I was tempted by the advertisements and bought a bottle to try. I can’t remember exactly how long I used it for but I realised I starting developing body acne. I switched to another brand of body wash and after a while, my body acne was gone.
2) Using conditioner and letting it sit on my back.
In the past, I would condition my hair and let it rest on my back for a while. However, I realised that acnes were developing. I thought maybe it could be the conditioner. Even though I used body wash to wash away the conditioner on my back but that few minutes of leaving the conditioner on my back could be the cause. I experimented and made a conscious effort make sure that the conditioner doesn’t contact my body. After that, my back acne cleared. This also happened to some of my cousins and when I advised them to try not to let their conditioner have any contact with their body, their back acne cleared. Sometimes, when we ladies have long hair, the oil in our hair might also cause back acne. Try to avoid letting our long hair have contact with our back.
3) Stress. Stress might induce the sebum glands to be more reactive, producing more oil. The period when I was under immense stress, not only did my face had a bad outbreak, my back had loads of pimples too. My back acne was cleared using Skinlycious anti-acne solution (now known as Glow Exfoliant) and anti-acne wash (now known as Calming Cleanser). After showering, I would get my mum to dab anti-acne solution (now known as Glow Exfoliant) on my back. My back acne did clear up and it never came back.
4) Lastly, there could be other reasons for body acne but those would need a professional eye to identify. I ran a facebook contest previously asking people to send me photos of their acne. There was a guy who sent me a photo of his body acne. The photo was pretty scary as it showed many red angry popped-up pimples that are not very small in size. I got goosebumps looking at the photo. He was pretty desperate as he said he has seen doctors and applied creams but his condition is getting worst. I asked my dermatologist about it and showed him the picture. He shared with me that he could tell that the guy was suffering from steroid-induced acne. The steroid creams are probably prescribed by the GPs that he were seeing. The more he used, the worst it would get. So, sometimes when we don’t get better, we should really seek professional advice and perhaps second opinion too.
Know of any other possible causes of bacne? Share with us your knowledge by leaving a comment below.