title: Physical and psychosocial impact of acne in adult females.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acne, the most common problem that presents to dermatologists, can persist beyond teen years. Although its physical and psychosocial impact is studied in teen years, it is poorly understood in the Indian adult population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the physical and psychosocial impact of acne in adult females.
  
  
  METHODS
  This exploratory study was done in the university setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven adult, unmarried females, between the age group of 18 and 25 years, having (mild-to-moderate), acne, for two consecutive years, were interviewed using a semi-structured clinical interview of the Skindex, a quality-of-life measure for patients with skin disease, developed by Chren et al., along with some open-ended questions. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis was done to analyze the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated a higher level of emotional and social impairment, in terms of the feelings of physical discomfort, anger, and the intermingling impact of these, among the participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acne is a common problem among adults and appears to have a considerable impact on the mental health, therefore, for the treatment to be successful, a sympathetic approach by doctors and significant others, with the basic psychosomatic treatment, are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Delhi, North Campus, New Delhi, India. gavneetkaun@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gavneet K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Pruthi
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Babu