Bikini Bottom

Bikini Bottom

Banish Itchy Rump Bumps

Whether you favor a serious swimmer's tank suit, a sensible skirted number or a revealing thong, if you sit around the pool too long in a wet suit, your backside may break out in little itchy red bumps. When that happens, you have a classic case of folliculitis--in other words, bikini bottom.

"When you sit around in a wet suit, bacteria gets embedded in the hair follicles in your skin and they become inflamed--that's what makes those red bumps," says Toby Shaw, M.D., associate professor of dermatology at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia. (The skin on your buttocks may seem too smooth to contain any kind of hair. But most of the skin on your body actually supports tiny or invisible hairs growing out of follicles in skin cells.)

Bikini bottom isn't confined to bathing suits, say doctors. "Women who wear panty hose can get it when they sweat and they can't dry off and their skin can't breathe," says Diane L. Kallgren, M.D., a dermatologist in private practice in Boulder, Colorado.

Wearing tight jeans can produce the same damp conditions that foster bikini bottom, says Jane M. Grant-Kels, professor and chief of the Division of Dermatology at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Pedaling an exercise bike for two hours in tight spandex shorts can cause friction and increased moisture, leading to bikini bottom.

DON'T JUST SIT THERE

Women doctors well-versed in bikini bottom offer this simple strategy for relief.

Grab an antibacterial soap. Whenever you come off an afternoon at the swim club or the swimming hole with a jumpy, bumpy butt, strip off that suit, leap in the shower and wash your backside with antibacterial soap, like Dial, says Dr. Shaw. That will eliminate the microorganisms that flourish on the damp playing fields of your swaddled buttocks and help dry out the rash.

Use antibacterial soap on the affected area every time you wash until the bumps disappear--about a day or two.

Scrub and rub. When you soap up with your antibacterial bar, use a washcloth, says Dr. Kallgren, and rub your bottom for about 15 to 30 seconds. That will exfoliate--remove--dead skin cells that accumulate and aggravate bikini bottom. (A damp bathing suit or bicycle shorts holds those cells tightly.) One exfoliation should be all you need.

Try a vinegar compress. "You might smell like a salad, but a good way of calming down bikini bottom, especially if it's weepy and infected, is to apply an acetic acid--vinegar-- compress," says Karen S. Harkaway, M.D., clinical instructor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a dermatologist at Pennsylvania Hospital, both in Philadelphia.

To make your compress, mix one part plain white vinegar to four parts lukewarm water in a one-quart bowl or basin. Dip a clean hand towel into the mixture, soak it, then wring it out. Lie on your belly on your bed, then apply the compress to your itchy bottom and let it soak into your skin for 20 minutes. One or two applications should help.

Reach for cortisone cream. Before you put your clothes back on, Dr. Harkaway suggests applying a film of over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream (such as Bactine or Cortaid) to your buttocks.