body acne treatments?
I'm a 24 year old man whose had acne since I was 15. I have always had
light to medium acne on my face, and some on my body. In the last 2 or
three years my face has gotten much clearer, while my back and chest have
gotten much worse. I have just finally gone to the dermatologist and
looking around these newsgroups to try and find some remedies. Right now
I'm taking 3 grams of B5 a day (I've only been doing it for a week now) and
washing in the shower with anti-bacterial soap and Hibiclens (which I've
heard very good things about). Has anyone found a good solution to this
problem? It's harder to treat topically, because there is just so much more
surface are to cover. I feel like I'm way too old for this, and it's really
embarassing to live in California and not be able to take your shirt off
around people. I appreciate any suggestions that anyone has to offer...
I am not familiar with your antibacterial soap, but most of the ones I
have heard of use triclosan as the active ingredient. This stuff
works very slowly on most bacteria, at the concentration reached
during bathing, and is really not very effective.
You might try using a dandruff shampoo containing pyrithione zinc, as
a bath soap. Some examples would be Zincon, DHS Zinc, some versions of
Head and Shoulders. This ingredient is a very active, broad spectrum
antimicrobial agent (actually a biocide, meaning that it kills
everything) that is slightly soluble in skin oils, making them
unappetizing to bacteria for a couple days after washing.
You can increase the effect dramatically, by coating dry skin with the
shampoo for a few minutes (5 to 30) before bathing, to let the active
ingredient diffuse into your skin at a higher concentration. But be
careful. This stuff will also attack living skin if the concentration
gets too high, so if it starts to feel warm, time is up. I think that
it is also a good idea to skip a day or two before repeating this sort
of exposure. The only side effect you may see is irritation and pink
skin (if you overdo the soak time) and a reduction in hair growth, if
you repeat over a long period.