Please excuse me for this post, but I am so frustrated with my body acne. I am such a freak that I get acne even in weird places like my forearms, hands, and stomach. And yes, I do think that it's actual acne for reasons that I will explain later in this post.

MY RANT

Having weird body acne is so frustrating because I'm such a freak. Virtually nobody else gets acne in such weird places. It's at least somewhat socially acceptable to have acne on the face, back, or chest. It's frustrating because, even on this forum, it seems that there are so many naysayers that doubt that acne on forearms and hands is possible.

I have managed to find a few people on this forum that have had acne in such weird places, but there are so many naysayers. People have often responded by saying, "Are you sure it's acne?" and "It's probably not acne - but keratosis pilaris [or some other skin condition]."

Nobody seems to accept that, as rare as it is, acne on the forearms and hands IS possible. It seems almost as if the few inflicted with acne in such rare cases are looked down upon, not taken seriously, and treated like freaks. It seems as if there's nowhere for them to turn.

Worst of all, unlike acne in other places, it's harder to hide forearm and hand acne. Wearing a shirt can cover back, chest, and stomach acne, and makeup can cover acne on the face, but those aren't as good options for places like the forearms and hands. Anyone that wore gloves on a regular basis, especially if it wasn't winter, would be looked at strangely, and in some cases, wearing gloves might not even be possible. Also, unless waterproof makeup was worn on the hands, it would just wash right off when washing the hands. Plus, even if that weren't a problem, think about how weird that is. How many people have to put makeup on their ARMS and HANDS for crying out loud?

MY STORY

I'm 28 years old, and I've had severe cystic acne since I was 14 (August 2003). Despite being well beyond my teen years, my acne has never been worse (with the exception of my forehead).

I first got it on my face and back - common places to get acne. For my face, I tried a number of different things - like washing more frequently, a soap for sensitive skin, pads to remove excess oil, Clearasil pads, and various other creams and cleansers. Nothing made any noticeable improvement on my acne.

Over two years after I first got acne, in early 2006, I was finally put on doxycycline and Accutane (though obviously, I didn't take them at the same time). Both worked wonders, and in the case of Accutane, I had no severe side effects except for chapped lips. However, almost immediately after my course of Accutane was over, my acne slowly started coming back over the course of several months. Five months after I quit Accutane, in January 2007, there was no denying it: my acne had come back in full force. My acne returned to everywhere I had acne prior to Accutane. There seemed to have been no improvement whatsoever.

Several months later, in September 2007, I went back to the doctor, and I was put back on doxycycline temporarily, and as was the case more than a year earlier, it worked like a charm. But a few months later, as a result of not getting a refill in time and having to skip it for a few days, the doxycycline was much less effective. Up to this point, I have never since returned to the doctor for acne treatment due to a number of factors - including lacking health insurance - and having other priorities. Also, sometime in early 2008, I started getting cystic acne on my neck - just under my ears.

I'd say that sometime in 2010, the acne on my forehead virtually disappeared. To date, my forehead is the ONLY part of my body with acne that got better on its own in the long term. I should also note that it got better completely on its own. I took no medicines and had no cleansing rituals.

From 2010-2015, my acne was pretty stable, and I became less concerned about it. But around March 2015, I started to get more acne more regularly on my chest and cheeks. A year later, in 2016, I started getting some very small, minor pimples on my arms, but it was very rare. In regards to my chest, I had tried a number of things - including toothpaste, supposedly a drying agent, but that had no clear effect.

Finally, this year, I started getting acne much more frequently on my arms and hands. My acne has also slowly been working its way from my chest to my stomach, as well. Keep in mind, this is at age 28 - when I've already had acne for 14 years. Getting acne on my forearms and hands is practically my worst nightmare because those areas seem harder to cover up, and they are also among the few, last places where I've had clear skin. It's like my body won't let me have an inch of clear skin. My acne is eating me alive. Also, those areas are such unusual places to get acne, so I'm essentially a freak.

As it stands now, my forearm and hand acne isn't too severe, but that is no comfort because I've feared that it will just get worse. At first, my chest and shoulders had relatively mild acne, but it got worse over the years.

WHY I THINK IT'S ACNE

Many will probably say, "It's probably not acne," but I doubt that it is anything other than acne. I say this because the pimples on my arms are not itchy like keratosis pilaris, and also, they've been appearing in tandem with the pimples spreading to my stomach.

Also, from what I've read, acne is possible everywhere on the skin except for the palms of the hands, and to date, I haven't had any pimples on my palms - but have had pimples on the tops of my hands and fingers.

The pimples on my arms also have been following the same patterns as the acne elsewhere on my body. Any cleansing or non-cleansing methods have virtually no effect - whether good or bad. Like elsewhere on my body, the pimples just come and go whenever they want. It doesn't matter what I put or don't put on my body.

Also, I first got relatively mild, rarely-occurring pimples on my forearms and hands. However, with time, they became bigger and more frequent. The same exact thing has been happening with my forearms and hands.

CONCLUSION

I feel so frustrated that I've been getting acne on my forearms and hands since I haven't been able to treat my acne elsewhere, and the forearms and hands are far worse places to get acne since it's seemingly harder to hide, and there could be hygenic issues. Worst of all, of the few people that I've found online - including this forum, not many seem to believe that acne on the forearms and hands is possible.

In my case, it's even worse because my body is already messed up. I'm short at only 5'3," don't look my age, and have even started losing some hair. My body is so freakish. I'm such a lemon. I wish that I could get a new body because this one seems beyond repair.

Since topical treatments seem to have no effect on my acne, I've thought for some time that I might have some kind of internal and/or hormonal problem. I've thought that might explain why I don't look my age - although I've already been to an endocrinologist, who didn't seem to think there was any correlation between my acne and appearance. Also, I've hated that most of what I can find online about hormonal acne pertains to females, but it seems that guys can get hormonal acne, too.

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this post, but I just wanted to vent my frustration, and I hope that I can find some way to effectively treat my acne.