How I Dealt with Severe Bacne

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve suffered from severe bacne. It was hard to notice as it had been on my back. I left it for about a decade or so until I decided to seriously do something about it. By then, the bacne affected an extensive area of my back. Every single inch of my back was covered with puss-filled pimples and red and tender bumps.

Initially, I had been trying things on a one-off basis. Someone would suggest dry brushing. I’d buy the brush and try it once or twice and give up. Someone else suggested a traditional Moroccan hammam or bath that involves rigorous, skin peeling scrubbing. I went a couple of times and quit when nothing progressed. Someone else suggested Witch Hazel toner. I didn’t stay consistent in that either as reaching for my back to apply a watery based solution without wasting the entire bottle was tough.

And so when I got my first job along with amazing health insurance, which is something many Americans go without unfortunately, I went straight to a dermatologist. She gave me retinol and some pills to control the hormonal imbalances causing the acne. I was to apply the retinol on my back daily. I too did not stay consistent.

I learned a key lesson after observing one friend I had. He had been fat and went on a lifestyle change to lose weight. He had went from eating constantly to actively changing his diet. He went from sitting around all day at work and home to gyming everyday. And I realized what my roadblock in dealing with my bacne was: a lifestyle change.

People often treat dieting as a lifestyle change. But rarely do they see a skin problem as a call for a lifestyle change.

Buying and using a product a couple times is easy. Saying that you’d change is easy. But changing a lifestyle? It required me to dedicate a good hour in the morning for my skin routine as well as block out another hour at night for the nightly skin routine. It was not easy, but I decided to do another thing to stay consistent in the lifestyle change: add in accountability by relying on another person to help me out.

I paid my sister to push me every single day. And she was to apply the products on my skin. Providing payment to my sister pushed me and her to take on this task seriously.

By then, I also had a different dermatologist who had prescribed me a whole different set of products:

• Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser for Dry Skin
• Noreva’s Exfoliac Lotion: a lotion for acne that contains AHA and BHA. These are key ingredients in combating acne.
• Clindamycin: a topical antibiotic that reduces the number of acne-causing bacteria from spreading to other areas of my skin. It was to be used on select spots that looked red and looked like they were about to pop and ooze out “stuff”.

Given these instructions from my dermatologist, I started much simpler instead:

• Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser for Dry Skin
• Neutrogena Rapid Clear Treatment Pads. These pads come soaked in a solution containing 2% salicylic acid, which is a type of BHA. Again, BHAs are key in combating against acne.

The reason why I stuck to the above two products was to really start small but be effective. The key ingredient that really worked (for me) in combating the acne was using products containing AHAs or BHAs. I used the Cetaphil Cleanser to allow the salicylic acid product to seep deeper into my skin.

After a month of paying my sister to do this very basic routine daily, I had noticed some improvement. The most important part was that I had already established a routine.

However, my back had some noticably red spots disappearing, but there was still a lot more left. I regretted not going to a I visited my dermatologist once more. I explained to her my routine. She checked my back and recommended I increase the percentage of exfoliating acid used to combat the acne. She also prescribed some capsules I was to take orally to control my hormones that were contributing to the acne. Thus, my routine became as follows:

• Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser for Dry Skin
• Neostrata’s Lotion Plus AHA 15: This lotion has 15% concentration in AHA, which was definitely much stronger than the 2% salicylic acid from the Neutrogena pads I had been using
• Clindamycin: used only on certain, red flaming spots
• Tetralysal: an antibiotic for acne, which I took orally and daily.

I would use the first two products early in the morning. I would spend 1 hour applying these products. It was a huge change of routine from my previous routine, where I’d just shower and eat breakfast. After I got used to it, I applied the two products at night as well, right before bedtime. Building up from a basic routine helped me establish my lifestyle change effectively.

I kept this routine for 3 years. This resulted in my skin clearing up all the pimples, red spots, and inflammations. The only thing left on my skin by then were many dark spots, which is a common aftermath of inflammation on darker skin tones like mines. These dark spots are referred to as hyperpigmentation.

I was told by my dermatologist that this was going to take many months to disappear. I was to keep using Neostrata’s Lotion Plus to keep exfoliating my skin as well as an additional new product containing kojic acid and witch hazel.

I did not particularly like the kojic acid and witch hazel products my dermatologist recommended me due to the price. I instead bought cheaper alternatives but had the same key ingredients:

• Kojic Acid Soap by Kojie San: I apply this soap on my skin and leave it on for a good ten minutes. During the wait, I usually perform other tasks such as toothbrushing, shaving, etc.
• Thayer’s Facial Toner Witch Hazel: I had initially tried this before as mentioned in the article. I had given up on this as I was unable to reach my back to apply this product. But at this point in time, I’ve already established a skin routine and had trained myself to reach for my back. I was able to easily commit this into my skin care routine.

Additionally, I invested in a product with a higher concentration of acne-combating acid, as science says that your skin becomes accustomed to the particular level of acid concentration after several applications. The following was the product I occasionally use to combat hyperpigmentation:

• The Ordinary’s Peeling Solution AHA 30% + BHA 2%: I use this product sparingly (twice a week) as there were some reports of skin burns due to its high concentration of AHA.

I kept track of my progress on the disappearance of the pigmentation. It significantly reduced after consistent usage over 6 months. There are still some minor spots left. Hyperpigmentation is known to be one of the harder issues to resolve and dermatologists generally agree that this is a cosmetic issue.

To conclude, this was my journey to eliminating my severe bacne. Much of the focus was building a lifestyle with a dedicated time slot for a skin care routine. The skin care routine was simple and not riddled with many products. The chosen products contained the key effective ingredients needed to obliterate the acne issue.

However I don’t want to give the impression that you best can pick the products on your own. It is important to visit a dermatologist who is able to identify which of the many ingredients available would work best for your skin type (dry, sensitive, oily, etc.). Without my dermatologist, I would have definitely not been able to pinpoint which ingredients were key in combating my acne according to my skin type. Without my dermatologist, I would have definitely wasted time and money trying to find the right product.