Summer time is all enjoyable and rosé till anyone breaks out on their butt: Hotter climate equals extra sweat equals a better probability of coping with all types of annoying physique blemishes, butt zits 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 definitely attainable to get zits in your bottom, what it’s possible you’ll assume are run-of-the-mill pimples may really be one thing else totally completely different than physique zits.

So, how are you going to inform what’s inflicting your butt breakouts? And, extra importantly, how do you eliminate them, and preserve them from cropping up within the first place? We requested a few dermatologists to clarify what could also be, uh, behind these irksome spots—and to share their high butt zits remedy ideas and methods.

Are butt pimples completely different from common ones?

In a phrase (okay, two phrases), sure and no. “It’s attainable to get conventional zits, identical 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 specialists aren’t positive why, precisely). As a substitute, you’re more likely to see offended cysts, pustules, and nodules, as a result of there’s a number of friction on this space that contributes to irritation, Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York, tells SELF.

Nevertheless, the entire dermatologists we spoke with had been fast to level out that what’s incessantly known as butt “zits” really isn’t zits vulgaris in any respect. Most of the time, 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 generally 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 shocking that these spots will be mistaken for zits.

Lastly, your bumps is also keratosis pilaris (a.ok.a. KP, a.ok.a. hen pores and skin). Whereas this pores and skin situation sometimes develops on the backs of the arms and thighs, it will probably pop up in your butt as properly, 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 vital to determine what’s triggering it within the first place so you possibly can 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 elements to maintain an eye fixed out for…

What causes butt zits, precisely, and the way have you learnt what variety you might have?

When you’re coping with precise zits, there are a number of attainable culprits: an overproduction of sebum or oil (which may result in clogged pores), bacterial overgrowth, and irritation, explains Dr. Ibrahim. The interaction of those elements, in addition to generally hormonal shifts (which may set off that extra oil manufacturing), is what results in zits anyplace in your face or physique, your butt included, he says. (Observe: Whereas further sweat through the sizzling and humid summer season months gained’t trigger zits alone, it will probably positively exacerbate the scenario by growing the quantity of micro organism in your pores and skin, each derms say.)