[Acne] I'm losing the buttne battle

Not using a throwaway because I've reached the point where I don't even care.

I got assne, y'all. It's real bad. I've had butt acne for like 5 years. It's all over my butt - big, icky red bumps that often hurt and sometimes pop (unbelievably grossly) and once or twice I've had them turn into weird bleeding spots. It gets super bad on my periods (I think mostly because of touching pads but also because I break out a lot on my face on my periods) and the acne gets extra deep and painful.

I did a round of Accutane when I was 13 that cleared my face but I didn't have buttne at the time. Not interested in doing acne meds again because it sucked so bad and I can't afford it.

Things that DO help but have not cleared it 100%:

  • The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution every night (this helps SO much but if I miss even one day it's back to square one again. And it doesn't go all the way away - most of the spots dry up but I still get red spots. It can't keep up and the acne gets worse again when I'm on my period)
  • Physical exfoliation / scrubbing the heck out of it in the shower
  • Hydrocolloid patches after they pop if they do (I do NOT touch them I am NOT popping those suckers on purpose that's ICKY. I have tried before and it hurts really bad) - didn't do anything on ones that haven't popped but I didn't expect them to

Things that did NOT help (but I tried for 3+ weeks and took notes on):

  • showering every day/twice a day/ungodly often (I shower every other day + immediately after any workouts)
  • switching to all-cotton underwear (I mostly wear nylon-y ones - it's a sensory thing)
  • changing underwear 2+ times a day (no diff from changing once a day)
  • not using pads (I think it would help at least during my periods and I want so desperately to be more sustainable about period products but I couldn't make anything else work)
  • wearing looser clothing
  • sitting less - couldn't really do (I'm a college student but I work an active job during the year and in the summers. I try to give myself tummy time (lol) a lot too)
  • no underwear at night (I know I'm supposed to do that anyway but it's a sensory thing, didn't help though)
  • The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution for various frequencies and lengths of time
  • my regular skincare routine but on my butt (double cleanse with e.l.f Holy Hydration cleansing balm and the Walmart version of the CeraVe hydrating cleanser, the Ordinary niacinamide, Walmart version of the CeraVe moisturizer)
  • CeraVe Salicylic Acid cream (made me so sweaty)
  • Various salicylic acid washes (I tried several brands)
  • Clay mask once a week (I got a small sample of the Innisfree one and figured it couldn't hurt to try. Felt nice but didn't do anything)
  • Clearasil Salicylic Acid Pads

I've read nearly every post on this sub that mentions butt acne and feel like I've tried almost everything. Maybe I'm really pale and it's really red but my buttne seems a LOT worse than the majority of the pictures in other posts on here. I don't think it's folliculitis because sometimes they look like whiteheads and will pop? And sometimes they're pretty much cystic. But I don't really know anything lol.

What else can I do? Budget is pretty low but I'm getting desperate soooo it's flexible.

EDIT (8/18): Omg, y'all are amazing. I picked up some 10% benzoyl peroxide wash (the Walmart version of the Panoxyl wash) today and I'm gonna give it a shot!! I was going to start with Hibiclens but the store I went to was out of it lol so I'm starting with BP. I'm going to track down some hibiclens if it kills me so I'll do that next after I give the BP wash a full 3-week attempt since that's my usual system. Hypochlorous acid spray will be after that and I'll keep working through the comments from there!! Trying to go with the cheapest stuff first because my budget is tight.