Back To Life…
No, I haven’t died and miraculously resurrected. The skin on my back, however, feels like it has. For a while now, I’ve been combating back acne. My strategy to tackling this problem has been quite counter-productive - I was looking for ways to beat the annoying, painful spots on my back with every potion known to man when what I should have done, instead, was to focus on the cause of the acne. The purpose of this blog (and all future blogs on this particular topic) is to share my journey as I try to bring my back skin back to life by clearing blemishes and scars!
But first, let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?
It was one hot summer’s day in 2016 when I ventured outside wearing a lovely scoop-back top. My skin was exposed, and as usual, I was super excited to get darker as the British winter always makes my skin quite pale. To say the sun did a number on my skin is an understatement. The sun went to town on it, and it serves me right because I was not wearing sun screen on that day. In fact, hours earlier, I had just mocked my sister for getting sunburn in British summer. I’d personally been sun-burnt while hiking in Tanzania two years prior, and I owe that to the anti-malaria tablets my GP had prescribed me before I left, which made me sensitive to the sun. I hadn’t noticed anything until I went into the shower as obviously I’d been sweating during my hike. It wasn’t even a hot shower - it was lukewarm - but it felt like someone was pouring hot water on my arms (which were the only exposed body parts, thank God!). I screamed and came out of the shower to find my arms inflamed and red. I was staying with this lovely lady, I called her my ‘mum’ then, Amanda, and she’s caucasian, therefore she is used to wearing sunscreen daily and has experienced sunburn. She told me that it seemed much like a sunburn. I laughed because the idea that a melanated Princess like me could get sunburnt seemed far-fetched back then, but alas, melanin doesn’t fully protect me from sun damage after all! I spent the next few days fascinated by my skin peeling, much like what some of my white school-mates would go through when they came back from holiday abroad. I made sure I wore a factor 50 sunscreen daily throughout the remainder of my stay in Tanzania because of it. Anyway, back to June 2016 when I ventured out in my lovely scoop-back top. I got home to discover that my back was covered in this rash, except the spots were too big to be heat rash. They were itchy as well, and when they settled and dried, they left marks on my back that took forever (years) to get rid of. That was just the beginning of my woes.
A few weeks later, I was at a black tie event, looking absolutely stunning in a red halterneck dress that hugged my body better than my ex. Heads were turning, and I felt so fabulous the whole time. My sister, having taken a seat next to me, told me how my back was looking “disgusting” (her word, not mine), and I was baffled. The confusion soon turned to shock and horror when she took a picture of my back and showed me a back covered in pus-filled spots. So, perhaps heads were turning because of my really disturbing back that had no business being exposed to elements in that condition, not my sensational outer appearance. Sigh. From then on, I felt extremely insecure, and rarely left my seat except when I desperately needed the loo. Fortunately, my sister had a little shawl which I borrowed for the rest of the evening to cover my back.
This was just the beginning of a long struggle with back acne. It was so unpredictable - I never knew what was causing it. Between that summer and 2018, I had no further flare ups, and my back was slowly healing, much to my delight. However, it was August 2018 when I went back to Zimbabwe for a month that my acne decided we needed to have a reunion! I consulted with a friend of mine who’s a doctor (a lovely person, might I add, who loves giving back to his community. Check him out here), and he advised me that it could be due to excess sweating as I was spending a lot of time in the sun. True enough, the salt in my sweat was irritating my skin, causing these breakouts. Since then, I made sure I always wore a kimono or some light covering of sorts to avoid direct contact with the sun. I’d also gotten in the habit of wearing sun screen religiously, so that was an added bonus. I also tried to wipe off any sweat ASAP if I couldn’t immediately wash it off. This helped for that time, and I soon forgot about it.
In late 2019, my back acne decided to pay me one more visit. I had made a few changes externally (wearing sun screen like my life depends on it, wiping off sweat when I couldn’t immediately shower, covering my back as much as possible when it was sunny, etc). So, I was devastated to find my arch nemesis had made a reappearance. This time, it was extremely painful, and the spots were a great deal larger than before. I really struggled and turned to Facebook for advice. Some people recommended home remedies including tea tree oil, turmeric and honey masks, some Over The Counter products, and even PRAYER! One person privately messaged me and advised me to do an allergy test. In my head I was thinking, no way am I allergic to anything. I’ve never had allergies before, so why now? I decided to give it a go, anyway, by eliminating certain foods from my diet then reintroducing them later. She had suggested going vegan, but if you know me, you know c’est ne pas possible! I’d rather endure the pain of acne than going full on vegan (jk, or am I?) You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just go to my GP to get a dermatologist referral. Well, my GP was rubbish, absolutely terrible that even the thought of having to rely on her for my back problems was causing more breakouts! (jk).
So, I eliminated certain foods. Dairy went, fish, all of that. It was in June 2020 that I finally discovered that the culprit was dairy and sugar! Apa the way I love cheese?! I was so heartbroken! It felt like someone had cut off my oxygen supply and shoved me in an airless room (hyperbole, I know). But I was still devastated. So, I decided to cut down my dairy (and sugar) intake. It wasn’t easy because I love baking and had just resumed baking brownies. However, whenever I’d eat the red velvet brownie (which contains cream cheese AND sugar), I’d really suffer, so I had to kiss that goodbye, reluctantly (probably not for good though 👀🙊).
Now that I’d finally discovered the root cause of my problems (sweat, dairy and sugar), it was time for me to combat my issues from within. My diet is generally quite clean, so this wasn’t going to be difficult. I also bought a Murad Clarifying Body Spray (I absolutely LOVE Murad products, they are developed by a dermatologist, they really work, but they can be pricey!). I sprayed it directly onto my acne in full break-out, and I swear, within a couple of days, the spots had dried! It works like a charm, as I expected. However, it didn’t help with the scarring. So I’m now on a journey to discovering the best product out there to get rid of the scars at a reasonable price (Murad have an acne scar treatment which I haven’t tried yet as it does not come cheap, so I have ordered The Ordinary products for the time being as they are said to work like a charm. I’ll be updating you all on how that works out for me, so keep an eye out for more posts on my skincare journey.
From left to right:
Murad Clarifying Body Spray, The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, The Ordinary Salicylic Acid Mask, The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%, and The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution.
I suppose the moral of this story is - if you don’t address the root cause of an issue, you will spend hundreds of pounds trying to cover it up. More often than not, lifestyle changes are required to physically see the changes we so crave. Also, ALWAYS WEAR SUN SCREEN OR AN SPF MOISTURISER EVERY SINGLE DAY!
Take care, and see you in another post when I’ll share some of my favourite facial skincare products!