Psychosocial effects of acne

Abstract

This article discusses the psychological effect of acne vulgaris. It is shown that acne has significant effect on self-image and impacts quality of life. The impact of acne may be equivalent to that of asthma or epilepsy. Anxiety and depression and a reduction in social functioning are a consequence of this condition. Effective treatment results in improvement of quality-of-life measurement. Most of the data is gathered from case control studies. Further work, particularly prospective longitudinal cohort studies, needs to be performed to validate the impact of acne on quality of life. Acne severity grading should incorporate life quality scores to better establish the true impact of this condition on our patients in order to optimize therapy.