Feeling like Accutane is the only option? Here are 5 things this mum learnt that cleared her son's back acne without the pill.

The back is one of the hardest places on the body to clear acne.

It's so hard that even people on Accutane don't see improvements in their back acne for 12+ months.

This is because:

• Thicker skin, so treatments struggle to get in
• More oil glands than anywhere else, so the pores clog faster
• Under a footy jumper and a sweaty shirt all day, so it never gets a break

I always thought acne on the back was the same as acne on the face. It isn't.

So the strongest option wasn't a guaranteed fix either. What Lachy's back really needed was something specifically designed to soak through thicker, oilier skin and stay on all day.

Every time something didn't work, the answer was always the same: go stronger.

Stronger washes bleached our towels and peeled Lachy's skin. Stronger creams stung so much he stopped using them. Antibiotics worked for a while, then it came straight back.

Accutane is the strongest step of all. And the more I read, the less I liked it:

• Dry, cracked skin and lips, plus dry eyes and nose
• Acne flaring up first, so it gets worse before it gets better
• Sun sensitivity, for a kid who's outside all weekend
• Muscle and joint aches, for a kid who plays footy three times a week

Stronger wasn't working. It was just harder on him.

What his back needed was something gentle enough to use every day, but still strong enough to clear it.

Here's how long everything we tried actually stayed on Lachy's back:

• Acne wash: about 10 seconds
• Pharmacy salicylic wash: about 10 seconds
• Soap and a scrub: about 10 seconds

Every one of them was rinsed away before it could do anything.

Treatment only works when it has enough time on the skin to get right into a blocked pore and clear it out.

That's when it clicked. It wasn't that nothing works. It's that nothing ever stayed on. It had to be something he could put on after a shower that would stay on all day, working the whole time.

Think about sunscreen. You can't do your own back properly without help, so you miss patches and get burnt.

Back acne creams have the same problem. Every cream and gel we bought needed a second pair of hands. And no 17-year-old wants his mum rubbing cream into his back every night.

So most nights it just didn't happen. Or he'd get his shoulders and miss the middle, where it was worst.

If he can't do it himself, it isn't getting done.

It had to be a spray. Something he could reach over his shoulder with, cover his whole back in ten seconds, and never need me for.

This was the part that made the decision easy.

If it worked, Lachy would never need Accutane. If it didn't, we'd lost nothing, and Accutane would still be there.

It also cost less than a single dermatologist appointment, which is A$250 to A$450 before you've even talked about treatment.

That's when we found Grom's Body Acne Spray. It was the first thing that ticked every box:

• ✓ Made for the back, not the face
• ✓ Lachy sprays it on himself, no help needed
• ✓ Leave-on, so it stays on all day
• ✓ Gentle enough for every day, with 2% salicylic acid
• ✓ 60-day money-back guarantee, no need to send it back
• ✓ Only $1.30 a day

Lachy never needed the Accutane. Now it's just part of his routine. Ten seconds after the shower, every day, and his back stays clear.