If you have bacne, steer clear of tight clothing to minimise friction (especially when you perspire) that could aggravate outbreaks. Instead, opt for looser lighter sweat-absorbent materials like 100 per cent cotton tees that will soak up all the sweat and oil produced on the back, trapping it in your clothes and not your pores.

If you’re one who takes showers for granted after a workout, you might want to think twice about doing that the next time you’re done at the gym. In fact, breakouts on the back can be exacerbated by working out or sweating more. If time permits, you should always have a quick shower after breaking out a sweat to remove dirt and impurities which may clog up the pores on your back.

If your own soap isn’t doing its job in removing all the dirt off of your skin, consider investing in a specially formulated body wash that’s formulated with salicylic acid. One prime example would be CeraVe’s SA Body Wash for Rough & Bumpy Skin. With a potent blend of ceramides, hyaluronic acid and niacinamide, this body wash helps to smooth and improve rough, bumpy skin while retaining skin’s natural moisture.

You may or may not know it but your bedsheets, as well as your workout gear, are the perfect breeding grounds for acne-causing bacteria. To avoid bacne from occurring, it’s recommended that you switch out your sheets frequently and avoid re-wearing your workout gear after more than one sweaty session at the gym.

Like the skin on your face, your back has more sebaceous (oil producing) glands than the other parts of your body, which means that your back produces more oils that could increase the likelihood of developing backne.

That is why you should exfoliate once or twice a week with a gentle exfoliating scrub to slough off the dead skin cells on your back that could pile up and aggravate acne.

For easy cleaning, invest in a long-handled body brush or a loofah so you can get into all of the hard-to-reach areas.

A diet with a high glycemic index (or a high impact on your blood sugar) can take a toll on your bacne. Consider avoiding carbs like white bread and potato chips that have a high glycemic index.

The study entitled “A low-glycemic-load diet improves symptoms in acne vulgaris patients: a randomised controlled trial” published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found a correlation between low-glycemic foods such as beans and fruits and reduced inflammation and activity of sebaceous (oil) glands, which can help to minimise outbreaks.

Hair products like conditioner and shampoo can clog your pores and cause you to get zits on your back. When washing and conditioning your hair, bring all of your hair to the front and rinse forward to avoid leaving any shampoo and conditioner residue on your back.

Just like how you would with pimples on your face, you can spot treat bacne too. Tea tree oil, as it turns out, is an excellent form of bacne treatment. Because of the low concentration of chemical substances in the oil, it can help dry out the acne on your back without irritating the skin, whether it is cysts, blackheads or whiteheads.

Text: Letty Seah & Shazrina Shamsudin/Her World

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