From age 14 all the way up to 32 I battled with back acne, face, chest, butt etc... I did Benzoyl Peroxide treatment, 2 courses of Accutane, UVB treatment, and loads anti-bacterials. I must've tried 10 different prescriptions, and effectively everything recommended on this page over the years. While Accutane did the most good, it never cleared things up fully.

After loads of different doctors and dermatologists, one dermatologist finally figured out that the main culprit for me was folliculitis. All those anti-bacterials to treat acne when I was younger? Apparently that can cause folliculitis later on (thanks doctors!). Acne was still present, but it was mostly folliculitis. If you have acne on your butt, it's probably folliculitis, so don't be embarrassed to mention that to your doctor!

I've had clear skin now for a full year WITHOUT any drugs or treatments. I ditched that stuff entirely. Am I cured? No, there's no cure. But I'd consider it total controllable 'remission'.

How I finally cleared things up:

Most importantly - Cold shower routine: Shower often. Even twice a day if you're sweating a lot. If you do any activity when you sweat, shower as soon as possible afterwords. When you shower, don't use water that's above luke warm. When you're almost done, make the shower as cold as you can stand. Keep it that way for a few minutes. It's hard at first, but it grows on you and you'll start to like it. Hot water opens up your pores, plus you'll get out of the shower sweating (but you wont even know it since you're wet anyways). If you dry off when your pores are open, your pores are open season all sorts of dirt and bacteria! Seal up your pores! Finish with cold! This makes such a massive difference.

Ditch the backpack if you use one: If you have backne, backpacks will cause your back to sweat and rub against the fabric, which makes things much worse. I notice even now, if I wear a backpack for a day, I get a huge flair up. Get a messenger bag if you can.

Wash your sheets and towel: Switch up your towel at least once a week, and ONLY use your main towel for drying off. Never use it to dry your hands. Otherwise, you're covering yourself with bacteria as soon as your out of the shower. Same goes for sheets.

Cotton clothing: Ditch the polyester and polyester blends. Aim for cotton in general.

Water: Drink at least 2 litres a day. Get a big water bottle and keep it around, and you'll go through 2 litres easily. When you sweat out toxins, you want it to be as diluted as possible to avoid flair ups, so drink water!

Use gentle soaps: Personally, I use Lush products. It's worth the extra couple bucks to get something higher quality.

Get some sun: It's not good for your skin, but sun exposure will get your body to put your skin in repair mode. It does a great job of clearing up blemishes. Don't overdo it, and again...show afterwords since you'll be sweating and covered in sunscreen.

Any questions, don't be afraid to ask.