The association of acne vulgaris with smoking in men: a hospital based study

Abstract

Background: Acne is a multifactorial dermatosis which occurs often during early adulthood with different grades of severity. The factors contributing to the formation of acne include genes, hormones, iatrogenic, psychological, and environmental and occupation. Our article presents the findings on a possible impact of smoking on acne. Methods: This study was conducted to evaluate smoking habits in 126 male acne patients in the age group of 15-45 years. Equal number of age and gender matched healthy controls were taken after consent. These subjects were administered a semi structured proforma to collect socio demographic details. Acne was graded taking into account the predominant lesions and smokers were administered Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence. Results: Among the total subjects, 28.57% of cases and 15.87% of controls were smokers. In acne patients the number of cigarettes smoked was more as compared to controls. There was positive correlation between the number of cigarettes and the grading of the acne(r=0.4515). The risk of acne was 2.12 times more in smokers than in non-smokers. Conclusions: Various studies have reported that smoking may play a role in pathogenesis of acne. Compelling evidence shows that higher nicotine dependence will exacerbate acne. So the association between the two cannot be excluded. The effect of smoking on the course of acne is still inexplicit.