I'm 21/male, and have had acne since the age of 11. It started younger than most other people, as 6th grade is ridiculously early for it. Making matters worse, my acne has always been mild-to-bad depending on weeks, it has never been actually clear. But I'm self-conscious enough about it to not do anything with my life, as I do take online college courses but only get out once a month. I'm close to being able to transfer to a 4-year university(due to online courses) but, secretly, won't do it because I'm too embarrassed of my face. My life is wasting away.

I have spent every moment trying to cure my acne, from the time I was only 11. I have tried everything, and I mean everything. I have; wiped my bodily fluids onto my face, have smeared many food substances on it, have tried using soap(now direct contact with soap causes acne), attempted putting my face against steam, tried icing my face, tried extreme dietary changes, attempted facial acupuncture, carved wounds into my face to make it absorb all the other redness on my face, poked holes into all my pores, tried using blue light, tried sleeping nonstop, and probably literally 100+ other methods. All worked at first, later every single thing failed. Acutane failed to clear my skin, too. Think about that, even the mighty Acutane couldn't stop my acne. The acne isn't the worst, but extremely persistent.

There is certainly something amusing about my acne. I get my acne on my face, back, chest and forehead... Yet also on my hips, butt, groin, toes, and scalp. As I get older the sections of my body I can get acne on spreads, while my facial acne "is more mild". I think the amount of acne I get on my entire body is set; for example whenever I get it really bad on my back, my facial acne is minimal, but if I get it terrible on my face then my back(and hips, toes, scalp or everything else) is minimal.

So, keeping in mind I break out from tomatoes(and not fastfood/soda), I have been smearing ketchup against my hips before entering the shower, in an effort to ensure I get acne on my hips. I have experienced a degree of success, as my hips now have tiny little white heads and my face is now slightly clearer. However, my facial acne is still too bad, so it obviously isn't cleared yet.

Conclusively, everyone is different. I'm not saying smear ketchup onto your hips. Most people breakout from fastfood and soda but I don't, so I'm just different when it comes to acne, like most people. I really doubt there's anything worth reading here, but whatever. Hopefully I didn't waste anyone's time. I must ask though, is it the same for everyone else, getting bad acne on face clears(for example) the back and vice versa?