A study of clinical pattern of acne vulgaris – In a tertiary care hospital in India

Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous units. Sebaceous gland is an important epidermal appendage involved in its pathogenesis. It is one of the most common skin condition of adolescents and adults. In this disease it develops multiple lesions like comedones, papules, nodules, cysts and scars. Factors like androgenetic hormones, amount of sebum secretion, follicular microbial flora, and fat rich diets are responsible for its cause. With this background we conducted this study of clinical pattern of acne vulgaris in a tertiary care hospital in India. Aim of the study: To study about the clinical pattern of acne vulgaris in patients attending dermatology OPD in a tertiary care hospital in India. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 consecutive patients attending the dermatology OPD with clinical features of Acne vulgaris was included in the study. Pregnant women and patients with drug induced acne vulgaris were excluded from the study. This hospital based observational study was carried out from November 2019 to January 2020. The datas were collected in a predesigned proforma which includes age, gender, marital status, age of onset, duration, body sites involved, number and severity of acne lesions, menstrual history, features of androgenicity, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation and scarring of skin. Results and Conclusion: A total of 200 Acne vulgaris patients were studied with 59% males and 41% females. Age group wise, patients above 18 years (51%) followed by 14 to 18 years (38%) were affected. The common body sites involvement were face (45%), trunk (18%) and neck (13%) are mainly involved. Acne grading shows, grade 3(53%), grade 2(21%) were involved. Males with androgenetic features were 20 patients (38%) and females were 33 patients (62%). Total number of patients having androgenetic features were 53(26.5%). Keywords: Pilosebaceous units, Androgenicity, Comedones, Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.