Acne on back, chest, neck, chin

[ThePartyArtist]

I have always been prone to acne and spent many years on medication for it. It got better when I went on the contraceptive pill, but I came off that in June. I didn't immediately notice an increase in acne when I came off it, but now I have it quite badly on my back (itchy spots), shoulders, neck and chin. Can anyone advise on what I can do apart from using Clearasil wash?

You can get zineryt on prescription from the doctors. I get cystic acne due to my PCOS and it was horrific when I was pregnant. The doctor prescribed this for me to see if it would do anything and I could see results after about 4 days. The lotion is meant to treat the wet, yellow/white head type acne, but it also worked quite well on my cystic acne.

The lotion can be quite drying and it will stain clothes, but worth it imho.

Thank you.
What is cystic acne?
I'm hoping to start trying to conceive in next few months so don't want anything that could be harmful.

First of all, my sympathy. I have been lucky that after specialist treatment and years on the pill, I have two lovely boys and OK skin (mid 40s). Is it worth going back to GP and asking?

Cystic acne is the hard 'blind lumps/spots' rather tha the spots that come up over a day or so which then get a head that you can squeeze. Cystic acne is common with PCOS.

Zineryt is a liquid with the main ingredients being erythromycin which is an antibiotic which can be prescribed during pregnancy and zinc. The lotion hasn't ever been approved to be used during pregnancy, but my gp said that there is nothing in it that isn't in other medications that have coomonly been precribed for years to pregnant women and he would be happy for his wife if she was pregnant to use it.

My DGD started to suffer from acne as soon as she hit puberty at 12. She had various antibiotics and topical creams from the GP but nothing worked. Her mother (my DIL) also suffered from acne when she was younger. I kept asking my DIL to take DGD to a dermatologist and I would pay - the GP should have referred her anyway but she didn't. Anyway my DIL was leaving it up to DGD (who was almost 15 by this time) and the acne was mostly on her face and quite bad. Anyway she finally agreed to see the dermatologist who prescribed some cream and wrote to the GP to suggest an AB and after 3 years her skin is more or less clear. I'll find out what the cream and medication is. Mind I think acne is one of those things that what suits one doesn't suit another.