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Hey! My boyfriend gets the same type of acne/irritated skin around his jawline sometimes, and he says it's from shaving. He has glowing smooth skin everywhere else. This is honestly what it looks like to me...ingrown hairs and what not. I don't want to minimize the acne on your neck/jawline, but those don't look like cysts to me. It could be hormonal too.

We make our acne much worse by picking it and irritating it with all sorts of scrubs and washes. I believe that so many acne ads really make one's skin worse! They only want your money.

This is what I've recommended to everyone on this site who has body acne. I did all these experiments for a year, and have found what has cleared my body acne. I've had it since I was 11.

1. Throw away all washrags, scrubbers, shower scrubbers, body washes or anything that will "exfoliate" your skin. Honestly all it's doing is irritating your skin. Your skin retaliates from begin irritated and breaks out. I only use papaya soap on my body, which definitely helps with red marks and has really smoothed my skin. I avoid soaps with sodium lauryl sulfate in it. That SLS really irritates my skin.

2. Look at the shampoo you're using. Head and shoulders may be nice, but it still has SLS. I would recomment Aveda scalp benefits shampoo. I don't know where you live or if it's accessible to you. But this shampoo has also helped clearing my body acne completely. I've been using it for a year now, and once I used another a knock off brand of head and shoulders, and broke out in huge zits all over my neck, jawline, scalp, and back. I buy the huge bottle and it's expensive, but it lasts me about 10 months. It's totally worth it to me to have clear skin. If you can't afford this, I would look into a sulfate free shampoo...but be ware...not every "organic" or all natural shampoo is equal.

3. Stop washing your clothes, towels, and sheets in detergent. Again, all those soaps have these unnecessary fragrances and perfumes that will irritate acne-prone skin. Sometimes, the detergent never dissolves and actually stays on your clothes. I only wash my clothes, towels, and sheets in hot/warm water with a little bit of liquid soap (wisk). Periodically I've broken out on my back, and realized my sister would leave those bounce dryer sheets in the dryer...! The fragrance from those broke me out.

4. Be patient...it takes time to heal. There will be ups and downs.

I hope that you can begin to make these simple changes. I had acne on my body much much worse than you...I had painful deep cysts everywhere. / Oh btw, I don't use any topicals on my body. I however use finacea on my face and neck, which if you look at my blog and pictures you'll see my results with it.

Best of luck to you bro. Feel free to message me or give us an update!

Hey! how long have you had this and what have you tried? Do you have acne on your face?

Besides the actual acne, your skin looks really irritated. As hard as it is, DO NOT PICK!! DO NOT SCRUB YOUR SKIN!! This ONLY IRRITATES your skin more, leading to MORE breakouts. I break out in little bumps on my shoulder from the seat belt rubbing on it! Throw away all those body scrubs and scrubbers. Seriously. Give your skin a break.

I would be careful about taking herbs...maybe you should first get a blood test and see what hormones or liver enzymes levels, etc. are out of balance. I also HIGHLY recommend a food allergy/sensitivity test! I tried accutane for 3 months in 2009 and my skin everywhere cleared up. I had it really really bad on my shoulders. But you know what? The acne came back, though not AS BAD as before. I wouldn't recommend accutane because I felt like HELL when was on it, and I believe I'm suffering side effects from it even years later.

I found out that almost all my acne is either diet related (allergy to wheat) and hormonal. Acne is also unfortunately hereditary. My parents both had acne, and my mom had it bad on her body. She has keloid scars now on her chest.....that's why I don't pick!

I went on birth control at a really early age...basically when I was 12! My mom wanted to spare me from experiencing horrible acne. I suffered with minor acne in jr high and high-school. Nothing major but it still affect my self esteem. Against my mother's warnings, when I was 18 I went off of birth control (Ortho-trycyclen). Within 6 months I was experiencing these dark deep purple "zits" which were very painful and didn't go away. I was horrified and bought all kinds of makeup to cover them. It was everywhere- jawline, temples, cheeks, etc. After 13 months of being off the pill, I went on 3 months off accutane and back on a generic birth control. My acne cleared up great, but it still came back.

In September 2010 I switched from the generic birth control to another form...and my skin FREAKED OUT again....except this time it seemed MUCH worse. I went back on ortho-tryclen in Feb 2011 and slowly my skin began to calm down. My GI tract is all messed up (who knows from BC or accutane) but now I have a dairy free, caffeine free, gluten free diet and I have really really good skin now.

I am worried like every other woman about what will happen when I go off the pill to have a family. I believe I will just taper off birth control. I read on here somewhere that a woman did that for a year...gradually just took less and less doses, cutting the pills in half. I think I will definitely talk to my doc (whoever they will be) before I go off and express my concerns to him/her.

Who knows...maybe I would have had horrible cystic acne all along but birth control truly prevented it. If this is the case, then I don't regret taking birth control. However, if it just created a dependency on the hormones, then I hope to be wise in the future when I stop taking it...I don't want to stop cold turkey and have my body freak out!

Hey I don't come on the boards much, but I thought I would check up on this post. Basically, I don't use a shampoo that has sodium lauryl sulfate...which even the most expensive "organic" brands can still have sulfates in them. However, I think the papaya soap has something similar to sodium lauryl sulfate...but the papaya soap has DRASTICALLY helped my skin! I was out of town and forgot to bring my shampoo.... and I used some knock-off brand of head and shoulders....my scalp, neck, and back broke out a lot and it took a good month to really clear my skin up again. So, I personally wouldn't use head and shoulders... I would suggest maybe you try a "sulfate" free shampoo for about a month and see how your skin does.

It's really rough to take antibiotics. They mess up your intestinal tract because they disrupt the normal flora (bacteria) in your body- not to mention they are extremely hard on your kidneys. I've only taken topical antibiotics, and took bactrim orally a few months ago because of an ear infection. It actually helped my skin a lot. But then when I went off of it I got the same little breakouts as before. Still, I wouldn't be on antibiotics for short-term, let alone long-term.

Well, It's maybe not so unfortunate that you mom does your laundry, because this would be a huge blessing to me. I've been doing my own laundry since I was about 10 years old! (My mom worked like crazy so...I had to grow up fast!) Anyways, if you don't want your clothes to be washed in detergent, it might be a motivation for you to learn how to use the washing machine I actually don't allow my family members to do my laundry. My mom knows a little better not to add soap, but she still forgets. It sounds like your mom isn't really listening to your concerns. There are so many chemicals in detergents and soaps that are not good for one's skin and she should acknowledge this... You have considered taking DRASTIC measures like accutane... I believe you should make simple accommodations in not washing your clothes in detergent first...and literally modifying anything to get rid of body acne. Trust me on this...I had body acne every where- neck, scalp, back, chest FOR YEARS!!! It's only been for a year now that I've experienced consistent smooth skin, and I believe it's because of the adjustments I made. I was on accutane, and all the acne came back because my skin is STILL sensitive to the things that broke it out before. My friend actually told me she doesn't wash her clothes with any soap, and then I started to do the same.

Yes, I wash my clothes in hot or warm water, gentle cycle, with a tiny (literally) bit of a liquid detergent. I've tried to wash my clothes all sorts of ways- hot water with powder detergent hoping it would dissolve the soap, cold water only yet my clothes don't seem to get clean, just hot water but my clothes shrink, etc. I actually will refuse to use towels or sheets that still smell like detergent or fragrance. I don't even need to smell them... the fact that my skin feels itchy and crawling will be enough for me not to use it. But honestly, since I don't use detergent, my skin is more sensitive and I pick up on how my body/skin is reacting to my environment. I've been surprised of how long I ignored it!

I hope you will make the best choices for yourself... the body is really amazing at healing itself...if we let it. Like I said in my last comment: change shampoos, stop scrubbing/irritating/picking your skin, and stop using detergent on your sheets, towels, and clothes. I've given this same advice to MANY other people, and they are clearing up.

Hey Sam I was going to make a post about body acne, but then read your question and decided to answer you I am like you....I've struggled (or used to) with acne not only on my face but also on my body. I could never understand it. Topical medications managed it, but it didn't quite fix it.

When I came to acne.org in early 2011, I had cystic breakouts EVERYWHERE...I had struggled with acne for over a decade. I began reading that using detergent in laundry, certain shampoos, and soaps can irritate acne. At that time, I had HUGE cysts break out around my rib cage and everywhere else...it was so painful and horrible I thought it was shingles. So, I changed shampoos (I use Aveda scalp benefits and refuse to use anything else!), I started using papaya soap, I threw away all the body scrubbers and washes, showering soon after I worked out, and I stopped washing my clothes in detergent. Sometimes I use a little liquid stain remover (wisk) and I avoid ALL fragrances and anything that will irritate my skin.

The results? Amazing....I could cry because how skin my clear is...and truly how far I've come. At the moment, I've had those stubborn bumps come back and more actual pimples. I couldn't understand why, thinking it may have been that I was sunburned. But tonight when I was doing laundry, I found that effing Bounce fragrance bar that attaches to the wall of the dryer. I was FUMING mad!!!! I told my sister that thing breaks my skin out, and she still puts it in. I totally forgot to check the dryer the last few months....! Now, I understand why I've been breaking out on my back again.... I basically have to rewash all my sheets, towels, and clothes (although I hang up most of my clothes). This is the second or third time it's happened.

So, I want to encourage you NOT to take accutane. I was on it....acne is much deeper than that..usually it takes faithfully making a lifestyle change to clear up your skin.... and you may have amazing results like me if you do what I did....it takes a few months.

1. Change your shampoo. Not even an "organic" one is good. I would look into Aveda scalp benefits. It has no sodium laurel sulfate SLS (I went out of town over spring break and forgot my shampoo...I used some cheap stupid brand and despite washing my hair upside down I STILL broke out on my scalp, neck, and back in HUGE painful zits. SLS is the biggest trigger for my breakouts).
2. STOP IRRITATING your skin. Be gentle, limit fragrances and scrubs. Papaya soap is very smoothing and it has a whitening effect and can help minimize scars/discoloration
3. Limit the detergent you use...again it can irritate skin.

Best of luck to you bro. Message me if you have more questions!!!