title: Acne itch: do acne patients suffer from itching?
abstract: Patients with acne often scratch their lesions. As scratching is also a part of the response to pruritic stimuli, this study aimed to determine whether itching accompanies acne. A total of 108 teenagers (mean age 15.8+/-1.8 years) with acne were included in the study. All participants completed a specially designed questionnaire on demographic and clinical data. Itching accompanying acne lesions was noted in half of the patients, including 15 (13.8%) teenagers reporting pruritus at the time of examination and 39 (36.1%) who reported experiencing itching in the past. Itching episodes were of short duration in most subjects (<1 min: 51.9%; up to 10 min: 38.9%) and occurred infrequently (several times a week: 24.5%; at least once a month: 30.2%; less than once a month: 37.7%). However, 31.5% of patients reported that they had used medical treatment to reduce itching due to acne lesions. We conclude that itching of mild to moderate severity is a relatively common concomitant symptom of acne lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Wroclaw Medical University, Ul. Chalubinskiego 1, Wroclaw, Poland. adi_medicalis@go2.pl
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Trybucka
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tracinska
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Samotij
authors.forename: Blazej
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jasiuk
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Srama
authors.forename: Jacek C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Szepietowski
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000150:complications*; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011537:Pruritus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires