4 replies to this topic

[dnl]

Hey acne.org

I'm a 19 year old male and I've pretty much had the same story as many people... had some moderate-severe acne problems on my face and chest area throughout high school and tried many products. Finally, I was prescribed accutane (starting from when I was 17 till 18), and now I only get 1 or 2 pimples once in a while.

Now in my experience, there was never a LOT of chest acne, but they would take forever to go away (like 3 months), but I've had this one bump for over a year now, smack in the middle of my chest. It's slightly redder than my skin, but not too noticeable. I've tried putting retin-A for a month or 2 to no avail, and I also tried benzyl peroxide 5% for like 3 months but it's not going away.

Is this a scar?
What can I do about it? Maybe I should see my dermatologist again? (which tbh makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable, which is why I haven't already gone)

[BlueElephant]

Hi dnl,

I don't think that this is a scar. Sounds more like a Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (red mark). There is not much you could do but waiting for it to go away. These marks can stay for month and even years. Dan made a page about this topic that is "hidden" in ethnic skin part of acne.org. Just go to the "Acne Info" on top of the page then "More Info", "Ethnic skin an acne" and then the Hyperpigmentation tab.

And because a lot of people here suffer from that problem (including myself), there is a lot of stuff in this forums. If you click on the More Options link in search field and then search for "red marks" in only in the titles, you will get some 40 pages of results.

Sorry I couldn't help more, but I'm still looking for something helpful myself.

[seeking_clarity]

Is it still a bump? It could be a cyst, in which case you can try asking your derm for a cortisone shot to shrink it...

[dnl]

well I'll just wait it out for a while longer. It's just barely a bump, doesn't really portrude at all, and I highly doubt there's some pus under there, so I think Blueelephant is right.
I'll also try searching the forum, thanks!

[beezy]

It might be a keloid ..... look that up and it will explain exactly what it is.....