Acne vulgaris significantly affects patients' quality of life (QOL) and their lives in various ways, including social behavior and body dissatisfaction. This may be heightened by acne's typical involvement of the face. We investigated whether the use of skin care and makeup could influence the QOL of affected patients without deteriorating conventional acne treatments. Fifty female patients with acne were recruited for our study. Twenty-five patients were instructed how to use skin care and cosmetics, while 25 patients received no specific instructions from dermatologists. Both groups received conventional topical and/or oral medication for acne during the study period for 4 weeks. Both groups did not show any significant difference in clinical improvement of acne severity. Two validated QOL questionnaires, World Health Organization (WHO)QOL26 and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) were administered to all patients at first visit and 4 weeks later. The mean scores of psychological and overall domains in WHOQOL26 for patients with instructions were improved significantly, while only the overall score was significantly improved for patients without instructions. The total mean scores and all domains except work/school in DLQI for patients with instructions were improved significantly, while the total scores and all domains except discomfort for treatment in DLQI were significantly improved for patients without instructions. Thus, instructions on the use of skin care and cosmetics for female acne patients did not deteriorate acne treatment and influenced patients' QOL effectively. We therefore suggest that instructions for using skin care and cosmetics complement conventional medical treatments for acne.
Our case of pseudo-HN might represent a good example illustrating the problems related to the educational campaigns that are conducted on the population for the primary melanoma prevention. The purpose of these campaigns is to increase public awareness of the main risk factors for the development of melanoma, such as prolonged sun exposure, the occurrence of sunburns during childhood, and the presence of multiple nevi. However, educational campaigns require decades to achieve their full potential and must be repeated frequently to have a positive and substantial effect. 4,5 Furthermore, the messages should be simple and clear in order to be fully understood by the population. Our patient understood the main message of the campaign, namely that melanoma is associated with certain risk factors, such as nevi and the sun. However, she concluded that sun is dangerous for her nevi and applied sunscreen solely on the moles while leaving most of her skin unprotected.
References1 Gupta AK, Ryder JE, Nicol K, Cooper EA. Superficial fungal infections: an update on pityriasis versicolor, seborrheic dermatitis, tinea capitis, and onychomycosis.
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