Mild acne on neck, back, face for years

Hi.  I believe I have pretty good hygiene.  I shower every day and wash my face with face wash.  For years (8-10 years), I've had mild acne on my face that would go away and come back every other week.  On my chest and back, the acne is pretty much always there and never goes away.  I always wash these areas but it has never had any effect.  The chest in particular is the first thing I wash so I really don't think it has anything to do with hygiene.  I also have very dry skin.  My face always has flakes if I look closely in the mirror.  In the winter I have to put lotion on my right hand once every couple of days or it will become so dry it will start bleeding (this only started happening in the last 2-3 years or so).  I don't see many people complaining about acne on their chest or back so I thought maybe mine was something different.  My body tends to be pretty hairy so I think it may have something to do with it.  I'm afraid to try some acne products that are listed on websites like amazon because they say not to use them if you have dry skin.  What should I do?

[dermify]

I have dealt with extremely bad acne in my younger years.  I would have patches of them on my back, back of neck, side of neck, chest, and my face.  Since this was around 20 years ago, I had to take Retin-A.  Yes, it cleared it, but because I used it for a good period of time that year (between 1988-1989), the areas later wound up with discolorations and, at times, would crust up in key points within those patches.  If I can go back, I would use a natural product:  One that didn't use harsh chemical compounds as their active ingredient.  I suggest using natural acne treatments in lieu of synthetic products.

[damo14]

Hi there,

Body acne is very common just as with the face. The difficulty with body acne is as the skin on the body is thicker than the face the pimples are formed deeper so that makes them harder to get rid of (takes lonnger than facial acne), but you will get rid of them and its true what they say it gets easier with time/

I can sympathise with you. I used to have moderate back acne but it is only mild now. I am hairy also but there would be many young hairy males who dont get acne so I don't think you can draw any conclusions here.

Firstly, its definitely not hygiene, acne has nothing to do with hygiene any good doctor will tell you that. It is formed well below the skin not on the surface of the skin

It seems to me that you just have acne prone skin so you get the odd pimple here and there and they come and go which is typical of your skin type.

I would like to know how old you are because your hormones may be still very active if your in your 20's.

I also get very dry and itchy skin sometimes so I guess moisturising may help you there r using a soap alternative cleanser (i used to love using sopa because it dries up pimples so fast but unfortunately it also causes irritation and dryness even on the tougher body skin).

Go to the chemist and get a soap free cleanser and moisuriser, such as Derma Veen or Cetaphil which are both great products.

Remember everyone gets dry skin due to the weather / air conditing etc etc

Try not to let it get you down too much. If it really bothers you you can go see a doctor although i know this may be hard because you are prob sensitive / shy about it.

All the best.

Damin