Skin problems can be irritating to start with, but if unchecked, they can become the bane of your existence! Do you know that acne, perhaps the most common among all skin problems, can also appear on the back? That is exactly what is commonly known as bacne. Bacne, unlike acne can be experienced at any age and is partially a genetic condition.

The problem with bacne is that it can have more severe consequences than a normal outbreak of acne. This is because skin on your back is a lot thicker than skin on your face and has bigger pores too. This means that clogs which develop in these pores result in much larger boils and pimples than acne.

Blackheads, pustules and cysts may also form, not just on your back, but even on the buttocks. Cysts in particular are really painful because they form below the skin and not on the surface. This type of bacne is known as nodulocystic bacne and is formed when oil ducts underneath your skin are heavily clogged and infected.

Each of the cysts formed can be up to several centimeters in diameter and tend to leave deep scars which take a much longer time to heal and vanish.

The other forms of bacne are not that much of a problem and you can at worst be mildly scarred if they break out. Thankfully your back is a part of the body that is usually not exposed to sight and so, you can deal with scarring much better.

Here are some other facts about bacne which may interest you:

• Nearly 2/3 of people, who suffer from facial acne, will also develop some amount of bacne.
• Bacne tends to affect males more than females.
• Up to 20% of all healthy adult males have some amount of bacne during their lifetime.

But the question here is what causes bacne. You should know that the same reasons, due to which acne breaks out, are at play here too. The basic problem occurs when the oil glands cannot secrete oil out of the body through the skin pores. These pores may be blocked due to a variety of reasons such as dead cells, dirt and moisture and so on.

Due to this blockage the oil accumulates and may be infected by acne bacteria. This results in further aggravation of the problem and the formation of pustules and zits.

Bacne is not known to be caused by any unique reasons, other than a particular form of bacne known as ‘acne mechanica’. This is caused by the repeated abrasion of the skin by rough surfaces, which can be anything from clothes to backpacks. This results in bacne if the skin is moist and not cleaned properly.

But this has not yet been scientifically established and so, you may consider skin abrasion as a way to aggravate bacne, and not directly cause it. Of course, there are a number of ways to treat bacne, and also to reduce the discomfort caused by large zits on your back. So, if you develop bacne, there is certainly no reason to panic.