I've been looking up some treatments for this and sadly it doesn't look like there is much out there that can help. As others have mentioned, it's a form of scarring, and we know how impossible that can be to treat. I suspect something drastic like dermabrasion may help because the spots are slightly raised, but I don't know for sure.
jimmyn80 said:I bought it yesterday and have been applying it to my whole chest where there's these little white dots. If anything, it seems to have "raised" the white dots.
y didnt u just try it on one spot..??
try it again on just one spot this time..
raised as in are they filled with a fluid??
always when trying something for the first time u should jus put it on one spot..o i hope its not worsened the spots 
did u mix it with water??
[Edited link out]
if so read a bit about tinea versicolor which itches when u exercise or if u are in a hot environment.
I tend to rush things and want it to get it over with. I've been applying it on my chest everyday so far. It hasn't done much however it gave me a couple of pimples on my chest. I mixed it with water; 50/50. These "white spots" seem more like scars to me than a "white spot" filled with something. I can pull on it and it's like stuck to my skin so I believe these are scars.
Has anyone tried Scarguard MD? I might buy that to see how it works on these scars.
OMG! I feel like crying. I'm new to acne.org and just came across this specific page tonight. I've been searching for years for the name of this condition. I've been to over a dozen dermatologists and they had no idea what this was.
I have this condition on my chin and my back (racerback area). I've had it since I was 16 and now I'm 34. It's basically crippled my life. I can't wear bathing suits or anything strapless. I've NEVER had a professional massage. I swore that this year I would get rid of this! I have tried everything and I'm so hopeless to find something to make my back look normal.
I will be following this page for updates! If I find something, I'll let you guys know!
I am fairly certain I have the same condition as the topic creator on both my chest and back and after going to see a dermatologist the other day he stated that it is indeed just scarring. There is treatment that can be done for it but he said each treatment costs about $1,000 each (in Canadian dollars) and may not even fully eliminate the white bumps/postules/whatever you want to call them haha. When going to see him he said my chest/back acne is pretty much gone except for about one red pimple so I'm just dealing with this horrible scarring now either for the rest of my life unless I decide to shell out the money to try and see what they can do. I suppose it's not overly bad but frustrating considering the fact that you'd like to have to have smooth looking skin when going to the beach. It's for that reason that I haven't really gone to the beach or gone swimming in years. Since I'm only 23 and don't really have an abundance of cash to try to see what he can do for me, I guess I'm stuck with it for a little while longer. Maybe once I start my summer job and have quite a bit of money in my bank account again, I'll try it out. I'd love to eliminate this since my acne is mostly gone now on my face.
Hey, sorry to bring bad news but it seems like you have the same condition i have, and i'm pretty sure my condition is acne scarring. Are your white spots raised a little or not at all? do they feel like the rest of your skin or do they feel hard? mine are raised a little but because there are several of them my skin looks bad. Are you sure that you didn't have acne close to the area where these white spots appeared? i used to have too much acne to keep track so i've always assumed that everything abnormal on my body is acne scarring. I've had these white spots for years so i'm pretty sure they're permanent. I'm going to be researching this and i'll post any discovery. The best way to fight against acne and scarring is through knowing exactly what they are and hopefully finding treatments! Good luck to you 
I hope that a cure will be found one day.
Hey guys,
I thought somebody would be able to help me diagnose what seems to be growing on my body.
Ever since I was 16 I started getting these white spots on my chest. I ignored the problem and it wasn't severe. Soon enough, I started getting acne on my body and it wasn't until recently until I got rid of it (I'm 20 years old now). My acne was pretty severe. I still have the marks to prove it.
I'm still on Accutane but 100% acne free. The problem is, as I progressed through my Accutane treatment, I started developing the same white spots on my shoulders and back. My chest still looks the same, but the spots seem to have spread really well on my upper back. Anyone know what these things are? They don't look that bad, but coupled with red acne marks they look terrible. They seem to be unaffected by everything I've tried so far.
Picture:
It might be hypopigmentation. The only thing I've heard of that will help is a surgical procedure that has not been FDA approved yet. It is called Avita Recell. I've also read that L-Tyrosine taken orally helps to produce melanin. Also, unipertan in some topical lotions is suppose to help stimulate the melanocytes to help produce melanin.
God bless.
J
If you are reading this and they drive you crazy, do this. It' not gonna make you perfect but it should help. Buy a strong copper peptide cream and some emu oil. Take a pumice stone and rub down until the bump is visibly reduced or not apparent at all. The deeper you go the more new skin is gonna regrow. Once you rub down, and it may bleed a little, apply a light acid first, or go straight to the copper peptides. It'll form a scab for a few days to a week. Apply copper peptides once a day and keep it moist with emu oil, a little goes a long way. Depending on your skin type and genes, when the scab falls away, you may get reduction or complete removal of the bump. It is essentially just skin which has lost the elastin so if you abrade it away you may minimize the degree to which it appears and although I haven't done it, remove it completely.
Another note, its from inflammation and damage to the hair follicle where the acne was. Even if you just have peach fuzz or tiny tiny hairs that are almost invisible that's why you have follicular macular atrophy. Dermatology textbooks although somewhat in disagreement say they can flatten over time, although I'm not sure if they can completely remove themselves naturally. If you don't wanna be as drastic as with the pumice stone, alternating a mild acid with coppper peptides over a long period of time, months to a year, I've been told can also be very beneficial for such scars. Good luck to you all!
Hi I have it too and, yes it pretty much sucks.
But I ws wondering, since we seem to have the same kind of acne, what do you people do to get rid of the acne? Do you still have it or just the scars?
- Apple (:
Sorry that you have it aswell
Although! Tell me what you wash with I can probobly help tweak out your regimen a little bit, plus some natural tips that could be beneficial to yourself and your body.
EDIT: Was this topic bumped from last year? haha
Nostradamus
Hi
I'm not really using any washing-stuff at the minute. I did some tea tree oil body wash but not long enough to se if it worked.
I'm taking fish oil and probiotics, and using the hot/cold shower tecnique. (:
What do you use?
Hey there again! Using probiotics are great! They help with the acne for the cheeks and with your digestive system.
What I use has worked for me for 2 years:
--------------------------------------------------
Panoxyl 10% BP for Body 2x daily
30 minutes of sun daily (if you can)
50mg Zinc
No dairy(milk, cheese etc.)
That's what I used, and found it beneficial for myself. You may need more or less than that.
P.S Hot Cold water technique is great ; )
I also have this same condition. From what I've read, it is indeed follicular macular atrophy. Unfortunately, I looked just about everywhere on the internet but no one seems to have any solutions. The thing is though, none of the people who had this tried getting laser treatment done on this, so I believe there is still hope. Not to mention that many of the posts I read were old and during the time where dermabrasion was used to treat all types of scars. It's amazing how many new laser treatments have been introduced in the past 5 years.
gms228, I saw one of your other posts where you mentioned trying to flatten it out with needling and acid and that it didn't work. I think that a heavy scar removal procedure on the back could get rid of this. The derm that I went to said he couldn't do much about it, but that a laser surgeon might be able to do something to it. I've looked into some lasers that might work and I've found that a Fraxel Laser may help. Basically what it does is smooth out the skin and produce collagen. Now what these scars are is just a buildup of excess collagen from when we had bacne, so I don't know how much collagen production would help us. Honestly, if the laser could just at least flatten out the skin I would be happy and wouldn't really mind the skin discolouration. If keloid scars can be cured then I'm hoping that this can as well.
One question though, I notice that a lot of people who have this condition have previously taken accutane, which is the case for me. Do you guys think accutane has any correlation to this condition or is it irrelevant and just connected to people with bad bacne.
Wow, I think a lawsuit may be in the works. Every single person suffering from follicular macular atrophy is an ex-Accutane user. I mean, read the boards, it's 100%.
I'm going to try to get Fraxel (or whatever laser the doctor recommends) done on them when I go to the United States and save up some money. I still do not live or work in America, but when I do, I will post the results of any treatment I have. There is a serious lack of information regarding treatment options.
BTW, I was misdiagnosed twice. It wasnt until I came to this messageboard that I finally figured out what these stupid scars are. The doctors kept telling me that it was active acne! I was seriously prescribed topical benzoyl peroxide and doxycycline to get rid of them.
Wow, I think a lawsuit may be in the works. Every single person suffering from follicular macular atrophy is an ex-Accutane user. I mean, read the boards, it's 100%.
correlation =/= causation
It just so happens that most of the people with these scars had acne bad enough to qualify for accutane. I had terrible acne on my chest, back and face and was offered accutane yet turned it down due to fear of side effects. I now have ~200-300 of these follicular macular atrophies on my chest, back and shoulders. You probably would have had it worse had you not gone on the accutane, so you should be thankful not regretful. I have just now started my course of accutane but that's besides the point.
As far as actual solutions go:
1. A member by the name of rss completely removed the hypertrophic tissue using vinegar and a q-tip, and then followed with the application of a hydrocolloid bandage + polysporin to reduce scarring on the second time the body would be healing the tissue. His results were that some of the atrophies completely disappeared, and some of them had merely a faint white scar "only noticeable on close inspection". Here's the link: http://www.acne.org/...nt/page__st__40
2. An expert dermatologist in my area mentions the following procedure for these type of scars: cortisone injections (sometimes along with liquid nitrogen), can be quite effective. Chemical peels and laser can also provide some benefit. His name is Dr. Barankin
3. Finally, gms228's post on the second page of this post provides a similar method to rss's method, which involves removing the tissue (although over a long period of time rather than all at once), and then letting the wound heal properly by keeping it moisturized. I Wonder if the methods can be combined to make it more beneficial.
www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/246480-white-spots-on-body/page__st__20
4. I don't have the link handy, but a member on this forum mentioned that going over the atrophies with a tattoo gun filled with water can break up the tissue effectively reducing the atrophy. His friend had a tattoo gun handy and performed this on his back acne atrophies.
I hope this provides helpful to those others suffering with this skin condition out there. Lets keep working on this together and maybe we can find a cure if at least a treatment.
Personally I'm probably going to be trying the vinegar experiment, and healing with hydrocolloid bandages.At present I've been experimenting with hydrocolloid bandages on the existing follicular macular atrophies, as well as active acne on my chest that would normally produce a scar. The active acne did NOT produce an atrophy after keeping it covered with a hydrocolloid bandage, and thus I now put hydrocolloid bandages on all my active large body acne. As far as whether it helps existing follicular macular atrophy I have yet to find out.
crackenskullex, I'm very interested in hearing how this procedure worked out for you. I have been looking for treatments for 2 years and this is the first one ive seen. I appreciate you posting this. Please keep us updated. I am also considering trying the vinegar process you mentioned. If i decide to go through with it, i can post pics up if people are interested.
Hi guys. I finished a round of accutane in spring 2012 and I too have those white scars of the back of my neck and top of shoulder. If you squeeze it nothing hard comes out except for maybe a little bit of fluid. My derm. told me that is it acne scarring. She suggested laser for my back. so, heres another testimony of post-accutane white bumps that will NOT go away.
On 1/10/2011 at 11:35 PM, itsanewday said:OMG! I feel like crying. I'm new to acne.org and just came across this specific page tonight. I've been searching for years for the name of this condition. I've been to over a dozen dermatologists and they had no idea what this was.
I have this condition on my chin and my back (racerback area). I've had it since I was 16 and now I'm 34. It's basically crippled my life. I can't wear bathing suits or anything strapless. I've NEVER had a professional massage.
I will be following this page for updates! If I find something, I'll let you guys know!
Hi! I feel your pain! A year ago I developed white spots all over my face and it is running my life! I™m depressed, don™t want to leave the house. Hate looking in the mirror. Did you ever get a cause/cure? Here are mine
