When Should I See The Doctor
If you have tried to treat suspected fungal acne at home and the acne persists for more than 3 weeks, please call your dermatologist.
Prescription antifungal drugs may be more effective in eliminating infections than topical treatments.
If symptoms recur soon after you think they have resolved, please consider making an appointment with your dermatologist again.
You may be able to find a treatment that helps prevent recurrence and prevent possible long-term problems. You can also discuss prevention options with your doctor.
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Can You Prevent Fungal Acne
Since everyone has Malassezia yeast on their skin, you can’t get rid of it completelyand that makes prevention of fungal acne tough, especially since both Dr. Sessa and Dr. Jenkins say some people are just prone to it.
Instead, your goal is to find a routine that helps you keep the yeast in check. Some of these strategies may be beneficial in taming an overgrowth of Malassezia:
- Avoid wearing tight or restrictive clothing for long periods of time.
- Shower and change into clean clothes after a workout or any activity that causes sweating.
- Use antifungal shampoo a few times per week as a body wash to prevent or limit breakouts.
- Consider using acne-fighting or exfoliating body washes, as well .
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What Are The Treatment Options For Fungal Acne
Because fungal acne isn’t caused by oil production, you can’t slap some salicylic acid on an outbreak and assume it will go away. You have to target the overgrowth of yeast on your skin if you want to reduce your fungal acne.
If your acne is mild, Dr. Sessa advises, you can start by using an over-the-counter antifungal cream or even shampoo, like Nizoral, to control the balance of yeast on your skin. However, this may not work well enough for you, in which case you should probably head to the dermatologist for professional treatment.
“Most commonly, you will need an oral medication , as the yeast can be too deep in the follicles for the topical medications to get to,” says Dr. Sessa. “Often, we will recommend a medicated wash as maintenance if someone becomes prone to this condition.”
Unfortunately, you probably will have to do some maintenance for a while if you’ve developed a case of fungal acne.
“It has a tendency to recur, because many of the ongoing risk factors won’t change overnight,” says Dr. Jenkins, explaining that adolescent hormones can rage for several years .
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How To Know For Sure That You Have Fungal Acne
A few things can clue you in that youre dealing with fungal acne:
- Your acne doesnt respond to over-the-counter or prescription acne treatments, or they make the problem worse
- Your acne feels itchy or burns to the touch
- You have other signs of fungal overgrowth, like dandruff, tinea versicolor, psoriasis, eczema, etc.
The only way to know for sure whether your acne is fungal or bacterial is to have your dermatologist grab a sample of the surface skin cells and test them. Dont worry it takes a few seconds and its painless.
While youre waiting for answers, you can experiment with over-the-counter and natural ways to fight fungus in your body .
How Is Fungal Acne Diagnosed
If you believe you have symptoms of fungal acne, you may want to see a dermatologist. Dermatologists specialize in diagnosing and treating conditions that affect the skin.
To determine if your symptoms are a result of fungal acne, a dermatologist will ask you about the symptoms youre experiencing. This will likely include:
- how long youve had the breakout
- what youve used to treat it
- what symptoms youre experiencing
In some cases, the provider may also want to do one of the following:
- They may do a simple, painless skin scraping and examine the scraping under a microscope to look for any yeast responsible for fungal acne.
- They may take a skin sample, or biopsy. This is a simple process done in the office. The sample will be sent to a lab where it can be tested to confirm the fungal acne diagnosis.
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How To Know If It Is Surely Fungal Acne
At times, they could be confused as whiteheads or blackheads or bacterial acne. Unlike the other types of acne, fungal acne is extremely itchy. Fungal infection irritates the skin and hence, the skin near the fungal acne clusters turns red. It could be hard at times to label it as fungal acne for sure. In that case, it is best to visit a dermatologist who will examine under the microscope to give you the final verdict.
What Are The Symptoms Of Fungal Acneand What Does It Look Like
Dr. Jenkins says fungal acne is more common on the chest and back because of how those areas are often covered by our clothing .
Fungal acne may or may not look like typical acne it’s often itchy, with a rashy, uniform appearance. The red bumps also tend to appear at the same time.
“It may present more suddenly and the breakouts tend to be monomorphic, all areas look similar,” Amie Sessa, MD, a Maryland-based dermatologist, tells Health. “They more often have pustules and are often itchy.”
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Does Funbact A Cure Acne
FunbactA Triple Action Cream is used for itching or skin rashes, bacterial infections, the treatment of ringworm and the relief of itching. Treats skin infections such as eczema and other conditions. It turned out that acne scars or sores on the skin can be seen quickly and clearly. Reduces inflammation and allergies.
by | Sep 16, 2020 | Skin Care |
This is not just another acne blog. Fungal acne is an ongoing problem that many people struggle with. Fungal acne is that even a thing? Well, it is and if you suffer from acne and have tried multiple products, facials and treatments only to have your condition worsen then you may be suffering from fungal acne . Unfortunately, fungal acne often goes misdiagnosed by family physicians and aestheticians alike.
The skin is an incredibly dynamic and complex ecosystem of microflora flooded with bacteria, viruses, and fungi that interact with each other and with us. Research continues to investigate how all of these micro-organisms network, what they do for us, and what we do for them. The reality is, certain micro-organisms are needed for healthy skin, while others can cause disease or set the playing field for disease.
What Is The Best Treatment For Fungal Acne
If lifestyle changes dont help, your next step for a mild case of fungal acne should be trying an over-the-counter topical treatment. For example, Dr. McKenzie says Selsun Blue , despite being marketed as a dandruff shampoo, also works as an antifungal body wash, thanks to its active ingredients . Other similar products containing those active ingredients might also perform well. And the key with all of them is to let the product sit on your skin for about five minutes before rinsing, she says. That way, the active fungus-fighting ingredient has time to get the job done.
Other recommended topical treatments include creams containing 2% ketoconazole, econozole nitrate, or 1% clotrimazole cream, all of which are often used to treat athletes foot.
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Apply An Athletes Foot Cream
Another nontraditional treatment lies in athletes foot cream. “Athlete’s foot is caused by a similar fungus that causes fungal acne” Zeichner explains. As such, over-the-counter creams can be used. “These contain a potent anti-fungal medication called clotrimazole,” Zeichner notes. He recommends applying it twice daily to affected areas. But if these dont work, or if your rash is not improving in a week or two, Zeichner recommends visiting a board-certified dermatologist for evaluation.
How Can You Prevent It
Unfortunately, you can’t truly prevent fungal acne from happening. Keeping your skin dry and clean during workouts and taking off your sweaty clothes right when you’re done will help. Keeping a salicylic acid cleanser in your shower, like CeraVe’s SA Renewing Cleanser, or towelettes formulated with the exfoliating ingredient in your bag will help minimize your risk of developing fungal acne, too, Zeichner says. “They can be very helpful in removing excess oil and dirt from the skin, which promotes an increase in growth of the yeast,” he says.
All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Now read more on combatting breakouts:
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Bacterial Acne Vs Fungal Acne
The typical true acne called acne vulgaris is bacterial in nature. It usually goes down like this:
- Hair follicles get clogged with dirt and oil
- Acne bacteria multiply in the follicles
- Like Malassezia, Cutibacterium acnes lives on our skin. As anaerobic organisms, they tend to multiply when theres a lack of oxygen. And that’s exactly what happens when follicles become clogged.
From looking at this process, you can see how different Malassezia folliculitis is from acne vulgaris.
The tricky part is how to tell them apart when they form on your skin.
The Best Fungal Acne Treatment
The gold standard treatment however is oral antifungal medication. Known under such names as fluconazole and itraconazole, they are by far the most effective way of treating an outbreak.
There are some specialist shampoos and body washes available. These are great as they can treat from the outside-in while any tablets treat from within. A shampoo or body wash with Ketoconazole will be much more effective than a sulfide-based anti-dandruff shampoo.
These should be used daily until the obvious signs of infection clear. It can then be used a few times a month to keep recurring infections at bay.
To increase the effectiveness of any topical skin treatment, it can be useful to cleanse your skin to unclog the pores of dead skin and debris. This will allow deeper penetration and increased effectiveness of your medication.
Unfortunately, even with prompt treatment the acne is likely to return, even more so in hot and humid countries. That is where topical solutions like econazole may help in conjunction with tablets.
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How We Chose The Best Fungal Acne Treatments
Heres how we curated this list of the very best products:
- Ingredients. We listened carefully to the derms we consulted with, giving priority to their No. 1 draft picks for zapping fungal acne.
- Skin and zit type. If your acne is definitely fungal , odds are, your pimples all look the same and your skin is likely to be the oily type. But we considered sensitive skin types, too.
- Reviews. We can handle the truth, so we look closely at what reviewers are saying. We like to make sure they are the real deal, too .
- Cost. We keep different price points in mind, but obviously if you want to test out one of the prescription options we mention, youll need a doc and some insurance, so that will vary.
- Vetted products only. We only included brands known for creating top-notch products with quality ingredients. We put every product through a thorough vetting process to make sure brands arent making any unsupported health claims or engaging in shady business practices. Only brands that passed made our list.
- Pros: go-to OTC option, budget-friendly, easy to use
- Cons: not best for severe cases, contains fragrance
You may be wondering how an anti-dandruff shampoo has anything to do with fungal acne. Like we mentioned, OTC options like this are the first line of defense suggested by the derms we chatted with .
They mention this shampoo by name and thats thanks to its all-star ingredient: 1 percent ketoconazole, a serious fungus fighter.
- Pros: oil-free, lightweight
- Cons: pricey
How Can I Tell Its Fungal Acne
The issue with detecting this type of skin problem is its similarity to other forms of acne. As it is not bacterial in nature, there is some variation in symptoms that can help tell things apart.
Sometimes the fungal acne will produce uniform lumps, i.e., all the bumps look the same. They can also be less red and very itchy when compared to regular acne.
Malassezia is connected to other skin conditions, such as folliculitis, pityriasis versicolor and seborrhoeic dermatitis. That is, it makes having these conditions more likely and they can often appear together.
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How To Tell If You Have Fungal Acneand The Best Way To Actually Get Rid Of It
If youre dealing with angry red bumps on your skin, your first thought probably jumps to acne. But what if youve tried absolutely everythinga salicylic acid face wash, benzoyl peroxide spot treatment, or other common OTC acne productsand theyre just not fading away?
First, take a closer look at the spots. If you have inflamed, chicken skin-like bumps rather than your usual speckling of swollen pimples, you may actually be dealing with fungal acnewhich technically isnt like your normal acne at all.
Fungal acne is common during the warmer, humid months, making now the prime time to develop those little bumps across your hairline, jawline, butt, chest, and backpretty much anywhere on your body. Ive been seeing it a lot in the office lately, says Doris Day, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist at Advanced Dermatology and Aesthetics in New York City.
Heres exactly how to differentiate fungal acne from your traditional breakoutand what you can do to get rid of it ASAP.
Fungal Acne Isnt Your Average Pimpleheres How To Tell If You Have It
As if treating breakouts wasnt complicated enough, fungal acne is here to add some more confusion to the mix. These minuscule bumps look and feel like regular ole pimples except, when you apply your spot treatments and purifying masks, they dont seem to get the hint.
Thats because, surprise: fungal acne isnt actually acne at all. Its an infection of hair follicles, says board-certified dermatologist Anna Guanche, MD FAAD, that can be tough to distinguish from your typical breakouts. Luckily, fungal acne isnt too difficult to treat once you realize youve got it. Learn how to tell if you have fungal acne below, plus the best treatments for clearing it up.
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How To Avoid Fungal Acne Triggers
First, prevention is key. There are a few things you can try to avoid triggering or exacerbating a fungal acne breakout. The AAD suggests trying these lifestyle tweaks to keep your skin happy:
- Wear loose, breathable clothes when its hot and humid outside.
- Change out of your sweaty clothes after you work out and shower as soon as you can.
- Wash your bathing suit or wetsuit after each use and let it dry before wearing it again.
Still, since the fungus that causes fungal acne naturally lives around your hair follicles, Dr. Rodney says, theres only so much you can do to prevent it. She suggests washing your face twice a day with a gentle cleanser to remove oil, dirt, and other build-up on the skin, exfoliating with a product that contains alpha- or beta-hydroxy acids weekly, and applying a lightweight moisturizer morning and night to reinforce your protective skin barrier.
Is Fungal Acne Itchy
Fungal acne may cause minor itching or burning. However, it typically feels less intense compared to other types of acne. Regardless, keeping your hands away from your face is the best practice as this prevents you from pushing the fungus or bacteria deeper into the skin and spreading the acne to different parts of your body.
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Contact With Others & Compromised Immune System
Researchers believe that fungal acne can be contagious and that this infection can spread from person to person through physical contact. The risk of developing fungal acne also increases if you have a immunosuppressed or weakened immune system. If you are immunodeficient, it means that your body has a weakened ability to fight against a variety of infections such as bacterial, viral, or fungal infections. Having a weakened immune system is something you are born with or something that develops as a result of an illness or medication. With your bodys decreased ability to fight infection, you can be more at risk for developing fungal acne like since your immune system cannot fight this infection.
How Is It Treated
Remember, because this condition is caused by the yeast Malessezia furfur, it will not respond to the traditional antibacterial and anti-inflammatory acne treatments. Anti-yeast and antifungal treatments are needed. For mild disease, you can start by using a topical antifungal cream or lotion, applied daily to the affected areas. For a more prolonged or significant outbreak, your dermatologist may prescribe an oral antifungal medication. Maintenance treatment may be needed as well because this condition can recur, especially when the environment is right for the yeast to proliferate.If youre struggling with facial breakouts that arent improving or responding to over-the-counter treatments, see a board-certified dermatologist to help find the best treatment and tailor a skin care regimen thats right for you.Susan Massick is a dermatologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and an associate professor in the Ohio State College of Medicine. Follow her on Twitter .
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