I’m A Dermatologist. I Told Women With Rashes Under Their Breasts To “Lose Some Weight” For 19 Years. I Was Wrong, And I Made A Lot Of Them Cry.

By Dr. Laura Bennett, Dermatologist

6 min read · Dr. Bennett received free product from Dermora.

I've been a dermatologist for 19 years.

For most of them, I said the same three sentences to every woman who came in with a rash under her breasts.

"Keep it as dry as you can."

"Use this cream twice a day."

"And honestly, losing a little weight would help."

I said the last one gently. I thought I was helping.

I never noticed what happened to their faces when I said it.

They were already embarrassed walking in. Most women apologize before they even lift their shirt. "I'm so sorry. I know it's disgusting."

Then I'd tell them, in a nice way, that it was their own body's fault.

Some of them cried in my office. More of them cried in the car.

This article is my apology.

If You Have This Rash, You Already Know.

It feels like someone scratching an open sunburn. All day.

It's shiny red in the middle and white and soggy at the edges. It burns every time your bra moves. At night it itches so badly you wake up with your hand under your breast.

Then there's the smell. Sour, like stale bread.

You shower in the morning, and by lunch you're in a bathroom stall, pressing your fingers under your breast and smelling them, praying nobody else can tell.

 You shower two, three times a day. It comes back anyway.

So you build a routine: the hair dryer on cool, a washcloth folded under each breast, paper towels on hot days, a drawer full of Lotrimin, Gold Bond and diaper cream.

You get a few good days. Then you wake up and it's back. Sometimes worse.

My patients did every single thing I told them. They still came back with the same rash in the same spot.

I blamed their weight. I blamed the summer. If I'm honest, I quietly wondered if some of them were keeping it clean.

I was wrong about all of it.

The Day A Patient Put A Plastic Bag On My Table

She was 58, a retired teacher, and it was her fourth visit in one year.

She put a plastic grocery bag on my exam table and tipped it out.

Eleven products. Three antifungal creams, two powders, a diaper cream, a spray, a pack of panty liners, and a steroid cream I had prescribed myself.

"I've done everything you said," she told me. "Every single thing. Please just tell me what I'm doing wrong."

I didn't have an answer.

That night I went home and pulled out the medical journals. One of them was a review published in American Family Physician, a journal for doctors. It says this rash happens "as a result of moisture, friction, and lack of ventilation," and that yeast often grows on top.

I had read that before. I had memorized it for exams.

But with her bag of products in my head, I finally saw it.

It's not one problem. It's three. And they feed each other.

It's a circle. Break one part, and the other two put it back together. Usually overnight.

That's your good week and bad morning.

Then I Looked At Her Bag Again.

The antifungal creams are the same kind of cream sold for athlete's foot. They go after the yeast, which is why the rash clears for a few days. But a cream sits wet in a fold all day, and the fold keeps rubbing. The yeast comes right back.

The powders go after the wet. Then she sweats, and powder plus sweat is paste. Gritty paste, rubbing on raw skin.

The diaper cream goes after the rubbing. But it's thick, so it seals the sweat in underneath.

The steroid cream I prescribed calms the redness fast. But steroids used in a skin fold for a long time can thin the skin, and they do nothing about the yeast.

The washcloths, hair dryer and paper towels fix the wet. For about an hour.

Eleven products. Each one breaks one part of the circle, and the other two close it again by morning.

It wasn't her weight. It wasn't her hygiene. It was never her.

It was the products. They're made one job at a time, for feet and for babies' bottoms. Not for an adult skin fold that stays hot and damp from morning to midnight.

And for 19 years, I'd been handing them out.

What Actually Breaks The Circle

You need something that does all three jobs on the skin, at the same time:

- An antifungal, for the yeast.
- A formula that dries down, so it never sits wet in the fold.
- A protective layer, so the skin can't rub itself raw.

In other words, a cream that turns into a powder.

I started reading ingredient labels the way I read patient charts. Almost every "skin fold" product did one job.

Then I found Dermora.

Here's what's in it, and what each part does:

- 10% undecylenic acid, an antifungal.

- 15% zinc oxide, a skin protectant. It leaves a soft layer between the folds so they can't rub raw.

- Silica and tapioca starch. They make it go on like a lotion and dry to a powder. It doesn't sit wet, and it doesn't turn to paste when you sweat.

- Witch hazel and tea tree oil.

- No steroids. No talc. No fragrance.

All three parts of the circle. One tube.

The First Time You Put It On

It goes on cool, like a light lotion. It doesn't sting, even on skin that's already raw.

Count to sixty. Then run your finger across it.

It feels like silk. Dry and soft, like the inside of a new cotton shirt. There's nothing white on your fingers and nothing on your bra.

Now picture the rest of your day.

You put your bra on in the morning and don't think about it again until bedtime.

No washcloth. No hair dryer. No bathroom stall.

You lean in to hug your grandkids without wondering if they can smell anything. You wear the summer dress. You let your husband wrap his arms around you and you don't flinch.

That's what my patients wanted. Not perfect skin. Just to stop thinking about it.

Over 3,000 Women Have Said The Same Thing

Don’t Waste Another Summer Like I Did

I lost six years. I won’t get them back.

Dermora is running a sale right now. Up to 50% off is applied automatically when you check availability. Orders also come with a free travel-size tube.

And there’s a 365-day money-back guarantee. If it doesn’t work for you, you get your money back.

Add up what this rash already costs you. Doctor visits. A drawer full of creams. Nights you can’t sleep. And if open skin gets infected, it can end in the ER.

You Have Two Choices

You can keep scrubbing, powdering and blow-drying. The good week. Then the bad morning. Again.

Or you can try one thing that fixes all three at once.

It’s not your weight. It’s not your hygiene. You were just never told the whole truth.

And to every woman I ever told to "lose a little weight":

I'm sorry. It was never you.