Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAcneFolliculitisKeratosis PilarisContact DermatitisBoils (Skin Abscesses)TreatmentPrevention
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Acne
Folliculitis
Keratosis Pilaris
Contact Dermatitis
Boils (Skin Abscesses)
Treatment
Prevention
For most of these conditions, at-home treatment can usually provide relief. Warm compresses can help reduce boils, and benzoyl peroxide washes and exfoliating creams can help with folliculitis. If at-home treatments aren’t effective, see your healthcare provider, who can provide a more definitive diagnosis and prescribe medication.
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Your butt skin hasporeslike anywhere else on your body. When pores get blocked, it can lead to pimples.
People with common acne (acne vulgaris) often get it on their face, but it sometimes pops up on the chest, shoulders, back, and less often, the buttocks.
If you have widespread acne,see a dermatologist. Body acne often needs to be treated with prescription medications.
If you see something that looks like a pimple on your butt, you might assume it’s acne. However, an inflamed hair follicle (folliculitis) is the most common cause of red, inflamed pimples on your butt.
You havehair folliclesover nearly all areas of your skin, including on your butt. If a hair follicle gets irritated, it will turn red and swell. The inflamed bumps can form a white head that looks like butt acne. The bumps can also be painful or itchy, but not always.
Folliculitis can develop just about anywhere on the skin.
Here are a few reasons why:
Mild cases of folliculitis may get better without treatment. However, you should tell your provider if you have pimples that are not going away or are getting worse, as you may need a prescription to clear them up.
Keratosis pilaris is a very common skin condition that causes small, skin-colored or red bumps. These are usually fine and rough, though you might only notice them when you run your hand over affected skin.
Keratosis pilaris bumps may look like tiny pimples or goosebumps. While butt acne pimples tend to come to a head, keratosis pilaris bumps do not.
Keratosis pilaris bumps develop when the protein that forms a protective layer on the surface of the skin (keratin) builds up around the pore opening. When the keratin builds up, it can form a hard plug, which creates the bump you see and feel.
Although it’s annoying, keratosis pilaris is a harmless condition.
Keratosis pilaris commonly develops on the buttocks, the backs of the upper arms, and the fronts of the thighs. Children often get keratosis pilaris on their faces (usually on the cheeks).
There’s no specific cause for keratosis pilaris, though it does tend to run in families. The condition tends to be at its worst during childhood and the teen years but fades over time.It can flare during pregnancy for many women.
Contact dermatitis can look like red bumps and may eventually form moist blisters. The rash can also become scaly and thick. Avoiding the substance is the first step to helping your skin heal. Your healthcare provider can help you determine if the rash is due to an allergy and recommend appropriate treatment.
Acne pimples can sometimes be quite large, and that’s true whether you’re dealing with facial or butt acne.
However, if you have a very large, painful pimple or a cluster of large pimples on your butt, it’s more likely that you have a boil (skin abscess).Boils are larger than pimples and they tend to hurt more.
Boils develop when a hair follicle gets infected.They start small but can quickly grow into large, very painful blemishes.
Boils can form anywhere on the body, and the buttocks are a common location.
Staphylococcusbacteria are the most common cause of boils, but bacteria likeStreptococcusorPseudomonasbacteria can also cause them. It’s rare, butfungal infectionscan also cause boils.
Treatment options for butt blemishes depend on what is causing them.
There are some ways toclear up butt acneand manage the more common conditions that cause butt pimples.
At-Home Treatment
You may be able to treat butt pimples with self-care and over-the-counter options, including benzoyl peroxide products and exfoliating creams.
Warm Compresses
Warm compresses can help the boils “come to a head” and drain. Once they’ve drained, they’ll be on their way to healing. Draining also helps with the pain boils cause.
Benzoyl Peroxide
If you have mild butt acne, the same over-the-counter (OTC) acne treatment you use on your face might be enough to clear it up. While not all butt pimples are technically acne, you can often still try treating them with these OTC products.
Body washes or bar soaps made withbenzoyl peroxideare the best options for butt acne. You could also try using facial cleanser, particularly one that says “maximum strength,” which may be more effective on thicker skin.You can get these products at the drugstore or big box store without a prescription.
Benzoyl peroxide works best for inflamed bumps like folliculitis.To use it, gently soap up all affected areas every time you shower, and rinse thoroughly.
Exfoliating Skin Creams
Keeping hair follicles from becoming blocked will help your skin stay smooth. Regularexfoliationis key. Exfoliating creams speed up cell turnover while keeping skin moisturized, and are particularly helpful for keratosis pilaris.
If your butt acne is mild, OTC creams that containglycolic acid,lactic acid, orsalicylic acidshould help.In more severe cases, prescription creams containing tretinoin (a synthetic form of vitamin A) might be needed.
Prescriptions and Procedures
If your butt blemishes are very red, swollen, and painful and at-home treatments are not helping, call your healthcare provider.
Anyone can get a butt breakout. While you can’t always prevent butt pimples, there are some things you can do to make them less likely to pop up:
Summary
There are many reasons why you could have butt pimples—and true butt acne is just one of them.
Taking care of your skin, letting it breathe, and keeping your hair follicles clean will help prevent these breakouts.
If you have apimple that gets really big(dime-sized or larger), you have a pimple that hurts, or you have many inflamed pimples on your butt, talk to your provider. You might need prescription treatment.
15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Powell PR, Garza-Chapa JI, Susa JS, Weis SE.Perianal Comedones: A Rare Incidental Finding.Case Reports in Dermatological Medicine. 2017;2017:1-4. doi:10.1155/2017/9019682Leung AK, Barankin B, Lam JM, Leong KF, Hon KL.Dermatology: how to manage acne vulgaris.Drugs Context. 2021;10:2021-8-6. Published 2021 Oct 11. doi:10.7573/dic.2021-8-6Reich D, Psomadakis CE, Buka B.Folliculitis.Springer eBooks. Published online December 9, 2016:149-154. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_24Sokolowsky N, Rolland L, Vandenhende MA, et al.[Cutaneous lesions during hot-tub hypersensitivity pneumonitis: Pseudomonas folliculitis?]Ann Dermatol Venereol.2017;144(4):290-294. doi:10.1016/j.annder.2016.10.002Schmitt JV, Lima BZ, Souza MC, Miot HA.Keratosis pilaris and prevalence of acne vulgaris: a cross-sectional study.An Bras Dermatol.2014;89(1):91-5. doi:10.1590/abd1806-4841.20142399Khetarpal S, Sood A, Billings SD.Nilontinib induced keratosis pilaris atrophicans.Dermatol Online J.2016;22(8).National Eczema Association.Contact dermatitis.Mount Sinai.Contact dermatitis.Shallcross LJ, Hayward AC, Johnson AM, Petersen I.Incidence and recurrence of boils and abscesses within the first year: a cohort study in UK primary care.Br J Gen Pract.2015;65(639):e668-76. doi:10.3399/bjgp15X686929MedlinePlus.Boils.SLMD Skincare.Can you use body products on your face—and vice versa?Lin HS, Lin PT, Tsai YS, Wang SH, Chi CC.Interventions for bacterial folliculitis and boils (furuncles and carbuncles).Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2018(8):CD013099. Published 2018 Aug 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013099Arif T.Salicylic acid as a peeling agent: a comprehensive review.Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.2015;8:455-61. doi:10.2147/CCID.S84765Kircik LH.Evaluating tretinoin formulations in the treatment of acne.J Drugs Dermatol.2014;13(4):466-70.Del Rosso JQ.Topical and oral antibiotics for acne vulgaris.Semin Cutan Med Surg.2016;35(2):57-61. doi:10.12788/j.sder.2016.025Additional ReadingDel Rosso JQ, Silverberg N, Zeichner JA.When acne is not acne.Dermatologic Clinics.2016 Apr;34(2):225-8. doi: 10.1016/j.det.2015.12.002.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Folliculitis.MedlinePlus. Updated June 9, 2021.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Boils. Updated June 9, 2021.
15 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Powell PR, Garza-Chapa JI, Susa JS, Weis SE.Perianal Comedones: A Rare Incidental Finding.Case Reports in Dermatological Medicine. 2017;2017:1-4. doi:10.1155/2017/9019682Leung AK, Barankin B, Lam JM, Leong KF, Hon KL.Dermatology: how to manage acne vulgaris.Drugs Context. 2021;10:2021-8-6. Published 2021 Oct 11. doi:10.7573/dic.2021-8-6Reich D, Psomadakis CE, Buka B.Folliculitis.Springer eBooks. Published online December 9, 2016:149-154. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_24Sokolowsky N, Rolland L, Vandenhende MA, et al.[Cutaneous lesions during hot-tub hypersensitivity pneumonitis: Pseudomonas folliculitis?]Ann Dermatol Venereol.2017;144(4):290-294. doi:10.1016/j.annder.2016.10.002Schmitt JV, Lima BZ, Souza MC, Miot HA.Keratosis pilaris and prevalence of acne vulgaris: a cross-sectional study.An Bras Dermatol.2014;89(1):91-5. doi:10.1590/abd1806-4841.20142399Khetarpal S, Sood A, Billings SD.Nilontinib induced keratosis pilaris atrophicans.Dermatol Online J.2016;22(8).National Eczema Association.Contact dermatitis.Mount Sinai.Contact dermatitis.Shallcross LJ, Hayward AC, Johnson AM, Petersen I.Incidence and recurrence of boils and abscesses within the first year: a cohort study in UK primary care.Br J Gen Pract.2015;65(639):e668-76. doi:10.3399/bjgp15X686929MedlinePlus.Boils.SLMD Skincare.Can you use body products on your face—and vice versa?Lin HS, Lin PT, Tsai YS, Wang SH, Chi CC.Interventions for bacterial folliculitis and boils (furuncles and carbuncles).Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2018(8):CD013099. Published 2018 Aug 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013099Arif T.Salicylic acid as a peeling agent: a comprehensive review.Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.2015;8:455-61. doi:10.2147/CCID.S84765Kircik LH.Evaluating tretinoin formulations in the treatment of acne.J Drugs Dermatol.2014;13(4):466-70.Del Rosso JQ.Topical and oral antibiotics for acne vulgaris.Semin Cutan Med Surg.2016;35(2):57-61. doi:10.12788/j.sder.2016.025Additional ReadingDel Rosso JQ, Silverberg N, Zeichner JA.When acne is not acne.Dermatologic Clinics.2016 Apr;34(2):225-8. doi: 10.1016/j.det.2015.12.002.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Folliculitis.MedlinePlus. Updated June 9, 2021.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Boils. Updated June 9, 2021.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Powell PR, Garza-Chapa JI, Susa JS, Weis SE.Perianal Comedones: A Rare Incidental Finding.Case Reports in Dermatological Medicine. 2017;2017:1-4. doi:10.1155/2017/9019682Leung AK, Barankin B, Lam JM, Leong KF, Hon KL.Dermatology: how to manage acne vulgaris.Drugs Context. 2021;10:2021-8-6. Published 2021 Oct 11. doi:10.7573/dic.2021-8-6Reich D, Psomadakis CE, Buka B.Folliculitis.Springer eBooks. Published online December 9, 2016:149-154. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_24Sokolowsky N, Rolland L, Vandenhende MA, et al.[Cutaneous lesions during hot-tub hypersensitivity pneumonitis: Pseudomonas folliculitis?]Ann Dermatol Venereol.2017;144(4):290-294. doi:10.1016/j.annder.2016.10.002Schmitt JV, Lima BZ, Souza MC, Miot HA.Keratosis pilaris and prevalence of acne vulgaris: a cross-sectional study.An Bras Dermatol.2014;89(1):91-5. doi:10.1590/abd1806-4841.20142399Khetarpal S, Sood A, Billings SD.Nilontinib induced keratosis pilaris atrophicans.Dermatol Online J.2016;22(8).National Eczema Association.Contact dermatitis.Mount Sinai.Contact dermatitis.Shallcross LJ, Hayward AC, Johnson AM, Petersen I.Incidence and recurrence of boils and abscesses within the first year: a cohort study in UK primary care.Br J Gen Pract.2015;65(639):e668-76. doi:10.3399/bjgp15X686929MedlinePlus.Boils.SLMD Skincare.Can you use body products on your face—and vice versa?Lin HS, Lin PT, Tsai YS, Wang SH, Chi CC.Interventions for bacterial folliculitis and boils (furuncles and carbuncles).Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2018(8):CD013099. Published 2018 Aug 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013099Arif T.Salicylic acid as a peeling agent: a comprehensive review.Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.2015;8:455-61. doi:10.2147/CCID.S84765Kircik LH.Evaluating tretinoin formulations in the treatment of acne.J Drugs Dermatol.2014;13(4):466-70.Del Rosso JQ.Topical and oral antibiotics for acne vulgaris.Semin Cutan Med Surg.2016;35(2):57-61. doi:10.12788/j.sder.2016.025
Powell PR, Garza-Chapa JI, Susa JS, Weis SE.Perianal Comedones: A Rare Incidental Finding.Case Reports in Dermatological Medicine. 2017;2017:1-4. doi:10.1155/2017/9019682
Leung AK, Barankin B, Lam JM, Leong KF, Hon KL.Dermatology: how to manage acne vulgaris.Drugs Context. 2021;10:2021-8-6. Published 2021 Oct 11. doi:10.7573/dic.2021-8-6
Reich D, Psomadakis CE, Buka B.Folliculitis.Springer eBooks. Published online December 9, 2016:149-154. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_24
Sokolowsky N, Rolland L, Vandenhende MA, et al.[Cutaneous lesions during hot-tub hypersensitivity pneumonitis: Pseudomonas folliculitis?]Ann Dermatol Venereol.2017;144(4):290-294. doi:10.1016/j.annder.2016.10.002
Schmitt JV, Lima BZ, Souza MC, Miot HA.Keratosis pilaris and prevalence of acne vulgaris: a cross-sectional study.An Bras Dermatol.2014;89(1):91-5. doi:10.1590/abd1806-4841.20142399
Khetarpal S, Sood A, Billings SD.Nilontinib induced keratosis pilaris atrophicans.Dermatol Online J.2016;22(8).
National Eczema Association.Contact dermatitis.
Mount Sinai.Contact dermatitis.
Shallcross LJ, Hayward AC, Johnson AM, Petersen I.Incidence and recurrence of boils and abscesses within the first year: a cohort study in UK primary care.Br J Gen Pract.2015;65(639):e668-76. doi:10.3399/bjgp15X686929
MedlinePlus.Boils.
SLMD Skincare.Can you use body products on your face—and vice versa?
Lin HS, Lin PT, Tsai YS, Wang SH, Chi CC.Interventions for bacterial folliculitis and boils (furuncles and carbuncles).Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2018(8):CD013099. Published 2018 Aug 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013099
Arif T.Salicylic acid as a peeling agent: a comprehensive review.Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.2015;8:455-61. doi:10.2147/CCID.S84765
Kircik LH.Evaluating tretinoin formulations in the treatment of acne.J Drugs Dermatol.2014;13(4):466-70.
Del Rosso JQ.Topical and oral antibiotics for acne vulgaris.Semin Cutan Med Surg.2016;35(2):57-61. doi:10.12788/j.sder.2016.025
Del Rosso JQ, Silverberg N, Zeichner JA.When acne is not acne.Dermatologic Clinics.2016 Apr;34(2):225-8. doi: 10.1016/j.det.2015.12.002.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Folliculitis.MedlinePlus. Updated June 9, 2021.U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Boils. Updated June 9, 2021.
Del Rosso JQ, Silverberg N, Zeichner JA.When acne is not acne.Dermatologic Clinics.2016 Apr;34(2):225-8. doi: 10.1016/j.det.2015.12.002.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Folliculitis.MedlinePlus. Updated June 9, 2021.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus.Boils. Updated June 9, 2021.
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