Original paper
Clinical dissimilarities and acne treatment in the case of adult women – introductory testing

In the last decade a significant increase in the number of female patients who are over 30 years old, suffer from intensified acne vulgaris and look for help from a specialist can be observed. The research was carried out in the Clinic of Dermatology in Katowice. It was carried out on a group of 44 women, all of whom had acne diagnosed and were out-patients in the period between 2002 and 2006. The age of patients was between 27 and 45 years (average 33.6 years). The female patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire that consisted of the following questions: occupation (labourer or office worker), marital status, place of residence (city, town or country), occurrence of the acne within a family, puberty acne, gynaecological examination with special attention to hormone disorders and hormone medicine that the patients took, duration of the illness, curing methods, accompanying illnesses. According to the research among those 44 women with acne, most are highly educated city inhabitants, who are office workers. Only in 31.8% did the acne occur within a family. In most cases the changes took place after puberty. 12 (27.3%) women were treated by using only one method of therapy (only external treatment). In 12 cases (27.3%) two methods of therapy were used, in 14 cases (31.8%) three methods of therapy were used, in 6 cases (13.6%) four and more forms of therapy were used. 29 women (65.9%) estimated the treatment effects by all methods as good/satisfactory, 10 (22.7%) as average, while 5 (11.36%) said that none of those methods had been efficient. Conclusions: On the basis of the research carried out on the group of patients of the Clinic of Dermatology it can be said that acne occurs in women who are highly educated city inhabitants, office workers and who do not suffer from any hormone disorders. In most cases the acne did not occur within the family. Generally the acne was benign. In most cases the women were treated by using at least three therapy methods and the results were good/satisfactory.