1Junior Residents, Department of Dermatology and STD, SGT University, Gurugram-122505, Haryana, India
2Professor, Department of Dermatology and STD, SGT University, Gurugram-122505, Haryana, India
3Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis, FMHS, SGT University, Gurugram-122505, Haryana, India
*Corresponding author email id: drsawhney@live.com
Online published on 1 August, 2023.
Acne vulgaris is a common inflammatory disorder of pilosebaceous unit, more commonly seen in adolescent. The prevalence of post adolescent and adult acne is increasing and requires further investigations to look for underlying hormonal causes.
To study various clinical manifestations and lower abdomen ultra-sonographic findings in acne in post-adolescent and adult females.
A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 100 female patients in the age group of 19 to 45 years, divided into two groups: post adolescent (19-25 years) and adult group (>25 years). The clinical manifestations like grade and site of acne; menstrual irregularity; presence of other signs of hyperandrogenism like hirsutism, seborrhoea, and alopecia; presence of breast congestion and sign of insulin resistance like acanthosis nigricans were compared in these two groups. Lower abdomen ultrasonography was conducted in all the patients.
There were 60 patients of post adolescent acne and 40 with adult acne. Cheek (91.70 %) and forehead (65.0%) were the most common sites of acne in post-adolescent group, while in adult acne it was cheeks (97.5%) and chin (60%). Grade I (25%) and II (55%) were more common in post-adolescent group while grade III (57.5%) was more in adult group, a statistically significant difference (p 0.02, 0.007 and 0.001 for grade I, II and III respectively). A significantly higher number of patients had clinical signs of pelvic inflammatory disease in the adult group (p 0.03). Menstrual irregularity like dysmenorrhoea, menorrhoea and oligomenorrhoea were found in 78.3%, 13.3 and 16.7% respectively in post-adolescent group as compared to 82.5, 15.0 and 35% respectively in adult group. Oligomenorrhea was significantly high in adult group with a p value of 0.03. Breast congestion in 13.3 and 7.5%; acanthosis nigricans in 8.3 and 2.5% and polycystic ovarian syndrome in 53.3% and 70% were found in post-adolescent and adult group respectively. PCOS was found to be significantly more common in adult acne (p 0.02).
The study shows that PID and PCOS are important factors in causing adult acne. Grade III acne was found to be more common in adult patients.
Post-adolescent acne, Adult acne, Ultrasonography, Polycystic ovarian syndrome, Pelvic inflammatory disease
