Summer time is all enjoyable and rosé till someone breaks out on their butt: Hotter climate equals extra sweat equals a better probability of coping with all types of annoying physique blemishes, butt pimples included.
Sure, pimples can and do pop up in your (different) cheeks, a problem that may be particularly irritating (and confidence-deflating) throughout bathing swimsuit season. However right here’s the factor: Whereas it’s actually doable to get zits in your bottom, what you might suppose are run-of-the-mill pimples would possibly truly be one thing else completely completely different than physique pimples.
So, how will you inform what’s inflicting your butt breakouts? And, extra importantly, how do you eliminate them, and maintain them from cropping up within the first place? We requested a few dermatologists to elucidate what could also be, uh, behind these irksome spots—and to share their high butt pimples therapy suggestions and tips.
Are butt pimples completely different from common ones?
In a phrase (okay, two phrases), sure and no. “It’s doable to get conventional pimples, similar to you’d in your face, chest, and again, in your butt,” Omer Ibrahim, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Chicago, tells SELF. There’s one exception although: Comedones—a.ok.a. whiteheads and blackheads—don’t sometimes present up again there (though consultants aren’t positive why, precisely). As an alternative, you’re more likely to see offended cysts, pustules, and nodules, as a result of there’s quite a lot of friction on this space that contributes to irritation, Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York, tells SELF.
Nevertheless, all the dermatologists we spoke with have been fast to level out that what’s continuously known as butt “pimples” truly isn’t pimples vulgaris in any respect. As a rule, it’s actually folliculitis, Kristina Collins, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Austin tells SELF. The misnomer is smart. Merely put, folliculitis is the irritation of a hair follicle, which manifests as small crimson bumps which might be typically pus-filled, Dr. Garshick says. (In lighter pores and skin, these blemishes may look white, and in deeper pores and skin tones, they’re sometimes darker, Dr. Ibrahim provides.) So, yeah, it’s not stunning that these spots might be mistaken for zits.
Lastly, your bumps may be keratosis pilaris (a.ok.a. KP, a.ok.a. rooster pores and skin). Whereas this pores and skin situation sometimes develops on the backs of the arms and thighs, it may possibly pop up in your butt as effectively, Dr. Ibrahim notes. Like folliculitis, KP bumps are usually crimson or flesh-colored in lighter pores and skin and extra pigmented in darker pores and skin, he says.
If you wish to clear up your “buttne,” it’s necessary to determine what’s triggering it within the first place so you may deal with it accordingly. Given the visible similarities between the three circumstances above, figuring out the trigger might require a visit to the dermatologist, however there are some key differentiating components to maintain a watch out for…
What causes butt pimples, precisely, and the way are you aware what type you could have?
In the event you’re coping with precise pimples, there are a selection of doable culprits: an overproduction of sebum or oil (which might result in clogged pores), bacterial overgrowth, and irritation, explains Dr. Ibrahim. The interaction of those components, in addition to typically hormonal shifts (which might set off that extra oil manufacturing), is what results in pimples anyplace in your face or physique, your butt included, he says. (Be aware: Whereas further sweat throughout the scorching and humid summer time months gained’t trigger pimples alone, it may possibly positively exacerbate the state of affairs by growing the quantity of micro organism in your pores and skin, each derms say.)