While back acne (bacne) is commonly normal, it may still leave you feeling insecure — and that’s also normal. Bacne is a stressful and sometimes embarrassing condition, and it can even cause women to avoid wearing open-back clothing and avoid participating in particular activities.
Back acne generally arises when excess sebum, bacteria and dead skin cells build up in your pores, triggering redness, inflammation and blemishes — just like to facial acne, except on the back. It can also be caused by hormonal changes, which is why young female are often plagued with it, and why you may notice it pop up around the period or pregnancy; and everyday habits like diet and clothing options may also have a role.
Fortunately, a simple modifications to the everyday’s routine can help you make those body pimples a thing of the past.
Compared to facial acne, there are also more external aspects to struggle when trying to overcome back acne. Things like friction from clothing and backpacks, sweat buildup from exercise, and excess oil production throughout hot weather can all cause flareups and stall the healing process.
Luckily, once you understand the kinds of back acne you’re up against, you can apply this intel to curate the treatments and lifestyle tweaks necessary to alleviate the symptoms — and maybe even stop flareups before they begin.
Just like the pimples on the face, there are many causes of this general skin situation. Frequently, acne happens when the glands produce an excess of oil and dead skin cells that are not removed block the hair follicles. Another general trigger of bacne is an personal’s lifestyle habits, such as working out or having a labour intense job. Sweat that is left on your skin for too long can frequently lead to breakouts on your back and body.
Study found that there is a relation between stress and acne flare-ups, specifically on the back, while the hormones that cause facial breakouts also play a part. Too much androgen — the male sex hormone — is often the case in both male and females. For women, whether you are about to begin your menstrual cycle, pregnant or nursing, or have PCOS, you will experience shifts in your hormones. When oestrogen is dipping it means androgen is in abundance and can send messages to your sebaceous glands to produce more oil. And once the pores are blocked with oil the bacteria can get to work on the skin surface causing inflammation and spots.
Other lifestyle factors should also be checked. Just like workout gear can aggravate the issue, so too can dirty bedsheets, so wash them every week to see if that makes a difference. How you wash yourself is something else to consider. Another very general reason for body acne is due to hair conditioner as it’s formulated to adhere to the hair follicle so often for person with this kind of acne, you just change the way you shower so the body gets washed after all the hair conditioner is rinsed out.
