Knowledge, attitude and practice towards acne vulgaris among acne patients

Abstract

Background: Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease known to occur in adolescent age group. There are many myths and misconceptions in patients as well as health physicians regarding the causes and treatment of acne. Objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards acne vulgaris among acne patients attending skin outpatient department in a private medical college.Methods: This is a cross sectional, questionnaire based study conducted between January - April 2016. 100 patients having acne lesions were included in the study.Results: Majority of the study subjects belonged to the age group 15-24. The study showed that 72% had good knowledge. More than half of the study subjects had wrong belief that eating oily foods, chocolates, spicy food caused acne but more than 40% of the study subjects had good knowledge about the causes and aggravating factors like it worsens by squeezing/picking/rubbing (83%), commonly found in oily skin (67%), has seasonal occurrence (54%), associated with premenstrual flare (42%), aggravated with use of cosmetics (41%). Conclusions: The acne patients had poor practice and unfavorable attitude in spite of good knowledge. Many myths exist among patients. Despite being so common and very well responsive to treatment, it is a major cause of depression among patients.