Excessive whiteheads after waxing

Whenever I wax my chest, about 1 day after waxing my chest has a terrible breakout with dozens of whiteheads all over.  This is not the first time it has happened and it does not seem to subside with subsequent waxings.  Is there anything I can do to prevent/treat this?  Should I be using some kind of acne cream or astringent on my chest after waxing?  Any advice or suggestions will be most helpful

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Ryan:

You are describing a mechanical effect of yanking hair follicles out through the skin.  Topical treatments are unlikely to have any meaningful effect.  The way to get around this is not to wax, either by just letting the hair grow, or by lasering away most of your hair, which is what many men are doing if they have dark hair and light skin.  You should consider looking into this, if you are unhappy enough with your hair to want to wax it off.

Best.

Dr. R

[Katherine]

I get something similar under my arms - red patches that turn to whitheads, and quit itchy. It has gotten better - but hten worse again. The one thing that has helped a bit was calamine lotion. Try this. Otherwise - I wish I could help you more - but I still dont know what is causing my rash either!