Clear Back, Clear Mind: Body Acne Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe acne on the back, chest and shoulders, a part of the body that is easy to hide and often left until last. The writers range from a seventeen-year-old in Manchester to a retired library worker in Edinburgh who waited forty years to show a doctor, and from Accra and Kampala to Bogota, Osaka, Montana and the Gold Coast. Many found clues in daily life: a cello resting on the chest, a bra strap, a lifeguard's rash vest, an army vest worn all day, eleven hours in a truck seat, a hockey dressing room, conditioner running down the back in the shower. A chef, a salsa dancer and a hospital nurse describe acne tied to their work. Treatments include benzoyl peroxide that bleached four shirts, an egg-smelling soap from the market, doxycycline, the pill, small injections into painful lumps, a second course of isotretinoin, a package of light treatments, and appointments by phone. Some found it was not acne at all, including an itchy rash that needed a skin scraping. Others describe giving up dairy or bubble tea, raised scars, dark marks, breakouts on testosterone during transition, and a medicine for the lungs. Some stories end with clear skin and some with acceptance, and one writer says simply that it is better, not gone.

Who it's for

For teenagers and adults who keep a T-shirt on at the beach, for parents unsure how to raise it, and for anyone who has been told to come back later.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 276 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.