A recent Korean review found that body acne is very common. The most common area is the trunk, the torso, especially in young people.
In fact, 52 percent of teens with acne on their face also have acne on their trunk.
Trunk acne most commonly affects the upper back (52 percent), followed by the upper chest (30 percent), lower back (22 percent), shoulders, and back. upper arms (16 percent) and finally the neck (8 percent).
The worse the acne on your face, the more likely you are to also have body acne.
The acne on your body is the same acne as the spots on your face.
We know that acne is a typical characteristic of adolescence. But it turns out that about 50 percent of adults also have acne.
That number has actually been slowly increasing over the past 30 years, but it increased about 70 percent in the five years before the pandemic.
Adult acne and teen acne are fundamentally caused by the same 4 factors:
- High production of oil or sebum.
- Excess skin cells combine with oil and become trapped in the follicles.
- The blockage becomes a breeding ground for C Acnes bacteria.
- Inflammation
However, not all acne is the same. Acne can range from a few black and white heads to a face full of smaller pimples plus larger, painful, throbbing cysts and nodules.
All acne, mild or severe, will benefit from vitamin A, which is now considered the foundation of acne treatment.
Vitamin A helps increase skin cell renewal to prevent excessive buildup of dead cells.
It is also comedolytic (eliminates pimples) and anti-inflammatory. Of the over-the-counter retinoids, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde) is the most effective and least irritating form of vitamin A.
Prescription retinoids often cause irritation, redness, dryness, and even peeling.
Gently exfoliating and unclogging pores, hydroxy acids also help reduce excess skin cells and oil that clog pores and cause pimples.
Vitamin B3, also known as niacinamide, is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial and reduces sebum or oil production. It can also improve the skin’s important barrier function by preventing water loss through the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin).
Since many people with acne have dry skin as a result of their overproduction of oil, this can also be helpful for acne.
The use of toners, alcohol-based products or exfoliants is not recommended as they dry out the skin and cause more inflammation.