Tom24

I'm 21 and my arms (between my shoulder and elbow) seem to break out and i can't shake it. Body treatments and other things haven't worked. Any suggestions?

la petite moi

I get the same thing, and I'm a girl. Yeah, sick. Have you tried Acutane yet? I've heard that works miracles! Anyway, just keep washing and hoping that it will go away. Remember, you're still young...OH, and toothpaste helps! Seriously, cover your problem area in toothpaste and then wash it off. It feels good [but burns a little] after the fact! Also, try cutting out almost all fat in your diet. It helps after a month or so.

butthead

Eat 25-50mg zinc, bathe (as I assume you currently do), and if you want a topical treatment try something with benzoyl peroxide or zinc (Head & Shoulders might work).

butthead

BTW, Accutane is only for severe cases and be sure to know all of its side-effects (even it's bizarre psychological ones).

tikki

Do you sweat a lot from a workout or something? If so, shower after your workout. I found that solved the problem. I also use a Panoxyle bar to spot treat it as well. Seems to work 90% of the time.

__________________
Take notice. Take interest. Take me with you.

Minorci

ok just some advice if you consult your doctor and even take it as far as a dermatologist and he reccomends roaccutane, stay the fuck away from it. It will fuck you up, the acne gone mind you, but it is not worth the risk. I have or am still going through a stage of depression as a result (cant be proven directly mind you) but there have been enough cases to warrant a warning about it. Other than psychological, you get extremely dry skin and while you take it you sun burn very easily.. The actual box seriously has a list of possible side effects totaling about 1-2 pages worth. Stay away from it. What i have heard from a friend who is suffering from acne and is about 21 he is taking quite high doses of Vitamin B5.. about 3-5g a day.. i dont know if it is healthy for you, but he seems good.. might be worth looking it up but he said he is seeing a positive result of taking the vitamins.

lemz

u might want to consider what you eat as well... i'm 22 now and i used to get zits all over my face til like 20... at first i thought i was teenage thing so i didnt care much... but it didnt stop... then one time for some odd reason i didnt buy milk for like 2 weeks and it all suddenly cleared up... mind u i love milk and been drinking it as well as eating sour cream and all that all my life and had acne... now my face is 100% clear, but i do get a zit every single time i drink some milk or have an ice cream... i tested it on purpose, happens every time... so now i know to stay away from milk. but i do get an occasional zit on my arms or legs mind you... so...

Radiospank

well i use to use retin a that works great but does leave skin dry if you dont ut on some lotion .. and MILK man thats great im gonna try that lol,,, you never know.... also i get backne and i just cant seem to get rid of acne completely cause my skin is bumby still

iandj777

I'm 25 and I get them on my back and a little on my chest. I've been using the Neutrogena clean & clear body wash. After about 2-3 weeks I've noticed a significant drop. Still to many though...btw, other than cutting out fat and showering, if you do drugs that could have a serious effect on your skin, in a negative way, of course.

__________________
I have nothing more to say

hobo

Accutane man. Its a miracle medication. Go talk to a dermatologist.

jibs

An exgirlfriend of mine had that problem, she started going to the tanning bed regularly and it cleared up. Maybe you should get out in the sun more often? Go to a tanning bed? just my two cents

mtbiker

I've hear it can be caused by ingrown hair...
A freind of mine used to have acne REAL bad on his face. or so he thought. It turned out to be an ingrown beard.

Using a loufa (sp??) would help with that I suppose.

blackdas

I've been using benzaclin lately, it works pretty well, but its a pretty weak prescription ( I dont know how bad your case is).

jmad

For tougher skin, like anything not on the face or nut sack, (although never had acne there, thank god) I use a benzyl peroxide wash. That usually clears up the skin. A cream might also work, just dont overdo it, as irritation causes acne too.

jadedgrin

well you should definitly pay attension to what you eat.. some poeple get it from chocolate, just like how lemz metioned the thing about milk. also try to cut down on fatty stuff, like eating fat.......or twinkies.....

__________________
what puts a smile on your face??

blackdas

Oil and dirt causes acne, not food.

constant

I was on accutane for a while, in fact, I am still supposed to be on it.. I did not go crazy, and those side effects are very rare. What did bother me was the SEVERE dryness of my skin. I stopped taking it early, which probably wasn't the smartest idea, I'll probably have to end up taking it for 6 months or something now because I stopped taking it for over a month.

__________________
life makes me cry

quadro2000

I'll tell you about my Accutane experience, but let me just reiterate that this is MY experience and opinions on the drug, I'm not discounting anybody else's thoughts on it.

I had pretty horrible acne from age 15 to 22, when my dermatologist finally recommended Accutane. I took it for 6 months. It didn't cause depression. It REMOVED my depression...because it was getting rid of my acne!

Before I took it, I asked my dermatologist about the million possible side effects that were listed on the box. He told me that side effects like nausea, depression or suicide were listed by law because of discussions with patients during testing. After a few months of being on the drug, the doctor would ask, "so how are you feeling, Jimmy?" And if Jimmy answered with "well, I'm feeling depressed" or "I've been nauseous all month," then those were listed as side effects- just to be safe. What were my side effects? Same as many users of Accutane: very dry skin, super chapped lips, and a bunch of nosebleeds. Yeah, it definitely sucked. But it was a good trade-off for clear skin.

I don't know too much about the technical aspects of the drug and what it does to the chemicals in your body, but I am sure that it affects your emotions in some ways. (I do know that it's a "retinoid" which treats acne by altering genetic expression to loosen up skin cells, but how they do it and to what extent is generally unclear.) There were days when I didn't feel great. Did I attribute it to Accutane? No, not really. I attributed it to life. But I'm a pretty cheerful person and tend to believe I can get out of any bad situation with a positive attitude.

It's really only recommended for people with severe cases so this may be irrelevant to what Tom24 really needs. But I just felt the need, since Accutane was being discussed, to put in my opinion.

__________________
You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

Sparhawk

I have 2 weeks left on my 6 month treatment, and I haven't had a single psychological side effect the entire time.

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

Ho-train

I have to vouch for the tanning bed idea to get rid of body acne.

I went to the beach once this summer, got burnt really bad (not on purpose, just didn't use enough sunscreen i guess) After the pain subsided, i noticed that my back was 100% clear. After it peeled it did come back, but not anywhere near as bad as before it was burnt to a crisp. Drying out body acne is the way to go i think, but i could be wrong.

__________________
And for our next topic...The Clitoris! Nature's rubix cube...

hobo

The tanning bed might get rid of acne but trading acne for cancer isn't that good an idea. Shower 2 times a day, wash with a soap for acne prone skin (these soaps tend to really dry the skin), don't eat too much junkfood (especially the hormone filled chocolate) and use topical creams and stuff with benzyl peroxide for mild to moderate acne. Accutane for severe acne. I've been on Accutane, it didn't make me depressed. I was pretty happy because I only had 1 zit at a time and that was amazing. When I stopped taking it, they came back in force but not to the severity it was at before. Accutane will usually wipe out acne for a while, and when you are done with it some acne might come back. It won't get as bad as it was before Accutane, so consider it a "Permanent Reducer of Acne".

loren

I have fairly mild acne and have tried everything, as they all say. Seriously though. I finally found something that has significantly impoved my complexion. Everything else I have used has made it worse before it got better, which is the last thing you want to happen when your face already looks like crap. So what I liked about this product is that my face improved everytime i used it. This is a very unlikely product to use for acne but it absolutly works. I found out about it on another msg board and decided to give it a try and thank god I did. Ok so the product is Head and Shoulders Classic Clean. I know it seems odd but it truly works. Use it once or twice a day depending on how severe your acne is. it will dry your face out a little but not to the point of peeling or anything. Just make sure you moisturize often with a cream and not a lotion. I use Jamison's Vitamin E moisturizing Cream. It's quite thick but it really helps when you have dry skin. Oh, and you can use the head and shoulders for body acne too. I don't actually have acne on my body but I did use it for a rash that I had on my shoulders (with an exfoliating brush) in the shower and the rash was gone in two days. I have also read about people using it for body acne and it working. So basically you can just use it as a normal face wash to replace the one you already use, or alternate. I have one more suggestion, make a tea with dried basil, yes the one you put on your pasta. Put about 1 to 2 tablespoons in a coffee filter and steep in boiling water. Leave it in the water for 10 to 20 minutes. Then cool it off in the fridge until it's cold. Apply it on you spots with a Qtip. Do this a couple times a day. Your pimples will literally shrink everytime you use it. You can refridgerate the tea to use it for about a week but then make another one. Make sure you cover it with saran wrap. So I hope this helps some of you that can't seem to find anything that works cuz it sure helped me. Let me know if you try this and what the results are.

soccerchamp76

Accutane is only for severe cases of acne. A lot of the depression that is reported is because, well, if you have acne that is bad enough for Accutane, you might be depressed as well, especially with teenage hormones.

Milder treatments include antibiotics. I currently use Minocyclin (50mg/day) and it works really well. I had acne on my back and face and now if is noticeably better.

I am not sure why sun helps, either. When I went on vacation to a lakehouse to waterski with my friends, showering didn't happen too much and we were in lake water all day. My acne was actually better that week when I returned then before I went.


Final note - I would ask about the Minocyclin first, and if that doesn't work, try Accutane.

__________________
Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department.
Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

Jason762

From the guys who know it best... steroid users.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157230

__________________
"To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead." – Miyamoto Musashi

snowy

It's because when you are tanned or sunburnt, your skin swells a bit and the color changes, and that covers up the acne. It doesn't actually go away, and can actually come back worse after you've been out of the sun.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

amonkie

Also sunlight is a source of Vitamin D, which your skin uses to be healthy - helps to improve your skin's health and keep it strong.

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

Delirious

I would tend to stay away from tanning as a cure for acne unless you don't mind putting yourself at risk for skin cancer!

What has worked for me in a tremendous way is having someone rub alcohol pads on my back. I've done this maybe 3-4 times in during the summer until now and my back has cleared up 90%.

Also after sweating alot it's a good idea to take a shower right away. Also change your pillowcase and sheets frequently. I find that if I get lazy and don't change my pillowcase for longer than usual I will get acne in the area that it touches my neck and back.

sarah77

For 7 years year I had pretty bad acne on my chin and forehead which wouldn't go away. 2 months ago a friend recommended skinb5 and within 5 weeks my acne had completely dissapeared! Great acne treat that works. I think the website is skinb5.com, but I'm not sure.

surferlove007

Recently I moved to college and away from my familiar spot in Fort Worth. Well weeks after moving here my face and neck have just been breaking out horribly, even my back. I don't understand if its just from stress, or all the dirt in Lubbock. Who knows, I wash my face and do masques weekly which help a little but it seems like nothing shakes it. Probably also genetics coming up to bat, bummer.
I've tried those natural acne pills at target and they did help for sometime, but otherwise it feels useless.