Hello all,
I wanted to share a few pictures that I had taken yesterday of both sides and the back of my neck.
I have always had bad skin, I had the usual teenage acne on my face which slowly disappeared around my 18th birthday.
However now 21 years old, I have a persistent case of cyctic/nodule acne which appears only on my neck! Which is a blessing and a curse at the same time, I am grateful that it is not on my face.
My GP has given me a couple of different antibiotics over the years, mainly fairly tame ones, which I feel are not doing the trick. I feel my GP is not happy to move me onto anything like accutane or anything of that strength.
It has come to the point now where the acne is really affecting me. The larger cystic/nodules will bleed once they reach a large size and will weep blood/puss for a good hour or so, not ideal when I am wearing a white shirt at work ... Not to mention the decreased movement in my neck when I have 3 or 4 the size of marbles hanging off my neck.
Has anyone got this type of acne? Especially just restricted to the neck? Should I seek a dermatologist? Should I beg my GP for accutane level antibiotics?
Many thanks for reading,
J.
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yes, been there but also had cysts on the jawline....yes get an apt w/ a derm ASAP - you will likely have to start with antibiotics and topicals before you get Accutane
Accutane is a miracle for most, sadly it didn't work for me and I had to go the hard way - turns out my triggers were dairy and gluten
while you wait for the appointment why not eliminate both of those from your diet for 30 days, no harm there- and if no difference then these aren't your triggers
acne is a terrible foe, it has different triggers for all of us- but do go see a derm, good luck to you and keep us posted
This is very similar to my acne but mines slightly further down my neck and in the middle rather than the sides. I'm currently on accutane as not a great deal worked. I tried elimination diets like stated above with only minor improvements.
But it could be a trigger for you even so. So we definitely give if a go.
Only other things I could suggest is salt baths. Improved my cystic acne considerably. Just been back from holiday and had no active cysts at all. I was in the sea a lot every day just to improve my acne.
You can buy sea salt and chuck it in your bath but you may have to have them regularly to get some results.
Anyway good luck.
I have this shit too. I did two rounds of accutane, my face has been clear, but the cysts on my neck came back both times. I'm pretty sure this neck acne thing is diet/hormone related, eat healthier, start a food journal and track your break outs too this will help you identify which foods trigger it. I stopped drinking/drugs too because it made my neck cysts flare up.
I have the same situation going on for about 4-5 years, Im 23.
After high school, no acne on face but large cystic acne on neck back corners and sides mostly. I used to have folliculitus around beard but I found wet shaving with a safety razor very carefully cleared it up.
I've beenoff gluten for digestive problems for about 2 year.
I found the best known cause for this type of acne is excessive sugar in my diet as well as dairy. It is really really hard, but stay away fromaddedsugar and high sugar foods. I eat high protein, whole foods. Breakfast will be 2-3 eggs and abanana. Lunch, chicken, zucchini and brown rice. Dinner, chicken, spinachand brown rice again or something like that.
NOwhite bread, poptarts, dairy, juice, etc. ONLY Water, lean protein, leafy greens.
I didn't eat any desserts for christmas, birthday, thanksgiving, absolutely nothing with added sugar whether it is dessert or sweet green tea, be careful companies trick people into thinking something is healthy but it is full of sugar - honey nut cheerios for instance. Go with regular cheerios.
Its hard, its boring and taste bland but suck it up and get used to it for the sake of your skin. Mine has been like yours and I have come a long way.
Also, I was on Doxy for about a year and came off of it. It got sort of bad but the no sugar.dairy.gluten kicks in.
I still see my derm every few months to shoot one up with kenalog, but I can go months without one until I (rarely) screw up and eat ice cream one night.
Good luck!