Pimples and zits can appear on the face (forehead, cheek) or on the body (chest, back, or all over you) except the palm of the hand and sole of the foot, as these are the only areas where skin pores have no hair canals.

While there are no differences between either types of acne, it does not mean that an over the counter acne wash is suitable for both your face and other parts of the body. In other words, you should not be using products created to treat facial acne on other parts of your skin and vice versa.

This is because, compared to facial acne, it can be more difficult to treat body acne for a few reasons.

Firstly, because of the texture of our skin, body acne is normally thicker than facial acne.

Secondly, you should know that the pores of the skin on the body are different, being larger and more active than those on the face.

Thirdly, since our body is covered up most of the time, the following problems are unfortunately introduced in the process:
- Sweat, oil and synthetic fabrics irritate the pores leading to the clogging of skin surface by infectious bacteria and formation of acne nodules.
- Blemishes are constantly exposed to friction from clothing and movement
- Topical treatments can be washed or rubbed away

As a result, effective wash solutions need to be separately formulated to cater for the different acne conditions on the face and rest of the body.

Before buying your over the counter acne wash, be specific as to the purpose of the wash solution. In the long run, you may want to select products with separate solutions / systems to address the differing facial and body acne conditions.