The effect of acne on quality of life, social appearance anxiety, and use of conventional, complementary, and alternative treatments

Role of Trifarotene in the Management of Acne in Indian Patients: Insights From an Indian Dermatology Experts' Meeting

Acne vulgaris, a prevalent inflammatory skin condition, significantly impacts individuals worldwide, particularly adolescents and adults. Its chronic nature, associated sequelae, and psychosocial impact underscore the substantial burden it poses. Current treatment guidelines primarily address facial acne, with limited guidance on managing truncal acne. Personalized approaches are increasingly recognized as essential for tailoring treatments to individual patient needs. This review integrates insights from an Indian Dermatology Experts' Meeting, featuring perspectives from nine leading dermatologists. Discussions centered on analyzing acne's burden, its effects on quality of life (QoL), unmet needs in management, trifarotene's role in Indian therapy, anticipated challenges, and the importance of ancillary care. The experts highlighted acne's profound impact on patients' QoL and identified gaps in current management guidelines, especially concerning truncal acne. Trifarotene, a fourth-generation topical retinoid approved by the FDA and Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for facial and truncal acne, demonstrated safety and efficacy across age groups. This synthesis of expert perspectives underscores the need for personalized acne management. Trifarotene emerges as a promising therapeutic option but challenges remain, particularly in optimizing ancillary care to minimize treatment-related adverse effects. Addressing these issues will enhance treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction in acne management, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches in clinical practice.

Acne treatment challenges - Recommendations of Latin American expert consensus

BACKGROUND

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous unit that is associated with a negative impact on quality of life, causing anxiety, depression, and poor self-esteem. The treatment of acne is not simple and presents some new challenges. This article addresses important issues faced by dermatologists on their daily, some of them specific for Latin America.

OBJECTIVE

To discuss daily practice recommendations when managing acne patients.

METHODS

A literature review was conducted by a group of eight experts with extensive experience in the field of acne. The results of the data review were presented at an initial kick-off meeting to align the consensus topics. Two e-surveys using the Delphi methodology and an interim group webinar meeting were held.

RESULTS

The expert panel reached a consensus on all proposed key statements, providing scientific support to help dermatologists and healthcare providers make acne management decisions on topics that can be challenging in the everyday practice of dermatology, such as the characteristics of Generation Z or the importance of the maintenance phase of adult acne treatment.

CONCLUSION

This article provides current recommendations for managing acne patients. The high level of agreement achieved based on the latest evidence supports the best acne therapeutic choices in both established topics and new important issues that have emerged in recent years, such as the impact of social media, Generation Z characteristics, and transgender male patient specifics.

Attitudes pregnant women in Türkiye towards holistic complementary and alternative medicine and influencing factors: a web-based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Pregnant women turn to holistic complementary and alternative medicine to cope with problems associated with the changes they experience during pregnancy. This study aimed to determine the attitudes of pregnant women in Türkiye toward holistic complementary and alternative medicine and influencing factors.

METHODS

This cross-sectional exploratory study was carried out between June and November 2022 with a web-based questionnaire distributed via social media and communication platforms. Two hundred and twenty-one pregnant women participated in the study. A "Participant Identification Form" and the "Attitudes towards Holistic Complementary and Alternative Medicine Questionnaire" were used to collect the data. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine correlations between variables and scale scores.

RESULTS

It was determined that 84.2% of the participants had knowledge about traditional and complementary therapies, and 77.8% used traditional and complementary therapies. The participants reported that they preferred faith (77.4%), energy healing (76.9%), massage (75.6%), diet (74.2%), meditation/yoga (62.0%), and herbal (59.7%) traditional and complementary therapies the most, and most of them used these methods to reduce nausea, vomiting, edema, and fatigue during pregnancy. The mean Attitudes towards Holistic Complementary and Alternative Medicine Questionnaire score of the participants was 35.0 (5.04). It was seen that having high school or higher education (p < 0.05), having an income more than expenses (p < 0.001), having received advice from nurses when having a complaint (p < 0.001), having knowledge about traditional and complementary therapies (p < 0.001), and being a practitioner who received services of traditional and complementary therapies (p < 0.001) were positively associated with the utilization of traditional and complementary therapies.

CONCLUSION

In this study, it was determined that the attitudes of pregnant women towards holistic complementary and alternative medicine were high. Their personal characteristics, as well as their knowledge and practice of holistic complementary and alternative medicine affected their attitudes towards holistic complementary and alternative medicine. Obstetrics nurses/midwives should actively participate in training programs on traditional and complementary therapies focused on pregnant women.

Evaluation of Psychiatric Comorbidities and Quality of Life As Well As Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Concentrations Among Patients Suffering From Acne Vulgaris: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Acne vulgaris usually affects the dermal layer of the skin and is revealed frequently in young adulthood and adolescence. It has serious psychosocial comorbidities. We conducted the present systematic review and meta-analysis to elucidate the association of acne vulgaris with psychiatric comorbidities and quality of life as well as the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the published articles were carried out following the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We investigated diverse databases: Web of Science, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL to search for articles reporting the prevalence of psychosocial comorbidities among patients with acne vulgaris from database inception through June 2022. The outcomes were depression, anxiety, symptom checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), quality of life, self-esteem, stress, loneliness, and BDNF concentrations. Of 3647 articles identified, 23 met the inclusion criteria. Patients with acne vulgaris have a significantly higher level of anxiety, depression, and stress (P<0.05). Yet, the reported findings of the SCL-90-R, self-esteem, loneliness, and BDNF scores among patients suffering from acne vulgaris were variable and did not differ significantly compared to healthy participants (P>0.05), hampering any conclusive findings on absolute prevalence. Subgroup analysis and comparison showed that heterogeneity between studies was likely due to factors, including country, study design, and assessment tools. This comprehensive review and meta-analysis revealed that anxiety, depression, and stress are significantly more frequent among patients suffering from acne vulgaris. These findings confirm that acne vulgaris has both psychiatric and medical characteristics and requires a multidisciplinary approach.

Advances in the human skin microbiota and its roles in cutaneous diseases

Skin is the largest organ in the human body, and the interplay between the environment factors and human skin leads to some skin diseases, such as acne, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis. As the first line of human immune defense, skin plays significant roles in human health via preventing the invasion of pathogens that is heavily influenced by the skin microbiota. Despite being a challenging niche for microbes, human skin is colonized by diverse commensal microorganisms that shape the skin environment. The skin microbiota can affect human health, and its imbalance and dysbiosis contribute to the skin diseases. This review focuses on the advances in our understanding of skin microbiota and its interaction with human skin. Moreover, the potential roles of microbiota in skin health and diseases are described, and some key species are highlighted. The prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies for microbe-related skin diseases, such as healthy diets, lifestyles, probiotics and prebiotics, are discussed. Strategies for modulation of skin microbiota using synthetic biology are discussed as an interesting venue for optimization of the skin-microbiota interactions. In summary, this review provides insights into human skin microbiota recovery, the interactions between human skin microbiota and diseases, and the strategies for engineering/rebuilding human skin microbiota.

The Effect of Depression on Treatment Adherence Among a Sample of Saudi Patients Diagnosed with Acne Vulgaris

Purpose

Acne vulgaris is an inflammatory disorder of the skin and is the most common dermatological disease, affecting all ages and races. Acne is known to be associated with depression. This study aimed to assess the impact of depression on patient adherence to acne vulgaris treatment using The Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT).

Patients and Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted with 204 patients with acne using four scales (depression, satisfaction, intention to adhere to acne medication, and control for confirmation). ECT scales were used to assess patient satisfaction and intention to adhere to medication. Demographic data were also collected, and descriptive and analytical statistical analyses were performed.

Results

A total of 204 questionnaires were completed. The mean age of the respondents was 25 ± 7.2. The majority were female; 167 (83.50%). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated a negative association between depression (β= −0.121, p = 0.033; 95% CI, −0.232 to −0.009) and satisfaction, when holding other variables constant, and the expected medication effect (confirmation) had a positive association with satisfaction (β= 0.334, p< 0.001; 95% CI, 0.202 to 0.466), keeping all other factors constant. Male sex was negatively associated with satisfaction (β= −2.388, p= 0.015; 95% CI −4.303 to −0.473), while keeping all other covariate sconstant. Residence in central provinces was a significant predictor of satisfaction (β= 2.562, p= 0.004; 95% CI, 0.832 to 4.292), when holding other factors constant. After conducting a simple linear regression, a positive significant association was found between adherence and satisfaction (β = 0.1713; 95% CI, 0.068 to 0.274).

Conclusion

Adherence is the cornerstone for a successful treatment plan and prevention of relapse or treatment failure, and satisfaction is an essential indicator for improving health policies and implementing social service provisions.

Acupuncture: A therapeutic approach against acne

Acne is a common but chronic skin disease that influence large population especially juvenile. Acne can continue, begin, or grow into severe form in adult age, affecting face, back, and chest. It may be a serious issue if not cared or treated timely. Even if acne got treated it leaves a persistent scar, which is difficult to alleviate. These acne lesions are long-lasting and result in significant impact on mental and physical health of an individual. There are four mechanisms that are involved in acne lesion formation. However, the accurate series of events of the interaction among the factors in acne pathogenesis is still unsettled. Pubescent acne is due to increase hormone levels, when in fact adult acne is due to fluctuation in hormone levels. There are various approaches for the treatment of acne, including oral medications, creams or gels, acupuncture. Traditional Chinese Medicine stated acne as a infection that is associated with the pathogenic influence of damp heat and heat on specific meridians. As an ancient and integral part of Chinese medicine acupuncture therapy is employed in the treatment of many diseases including acne. It functions by ameliorating the deep-rooted mechanisms playing crucial role in acne development. In this review, we have explained the acne causes, pathogenesis, and its available treatment options. Additionally, we also discussed the acupuncture therapy methods, devices, different techniques. and its mechanism of action in treating acne. Furthermore, clinical trials studies motivated us to highlight the scope of acupuncture in the growing system of medicine.