Demographic Features, Beliefs And Socio-Psychological Impact Of Acne Vulgaris Among Its Sufferers In Two Towns In Nigeria

Females were more affected than the males
(65%   &35%) respectively, no ethnic

differences were observed as most of the
tribes in the study environment were
affected. Acne sufferers had the highest
increase in severity during the rainy season.

In females, 54.0% indicated an increase in
severity during the pre-menstrual period.
Also (93.1%) of the acne sufferers indicated
increase in severity as a result of stress.
While 74.2% of the acne subjects had
suffered the disorder for more than 5 years.

Table 1: Demographic factors affecting severity of Acne vulgaris in Nigerians

About 74.7% of the subjects believed that
oily/fatty diets contribute to perpetuation of
acne vulgaris, while 40.8% believed that it is
genetic/hereditary (Table 2). Very low
population of the sufferers (5.2%) had at one
time sought doctor’s/medical attention,
while 94.8% of the acne sufferers had not.
Non -prescription products used by the
subjects were cleansers (32.8%) and
creams/lotions (59.8%) while 7.4% of the
sufferers did not use any. Psychological
abnormalities experienced by the acne
patients were social inhibition (20.7%),
depression (9.2%) and anxiety (17.2%).
About 30.5% of the population experienced
pain as pyschosomatic symptom while
29.9% and 13.2% experienced discomfort
and embarrassment respectively.

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