Evaluation of common risk factors of acne in teenagers in Batticaloa district

Abstract

Acne, or acne vulgaris, is a common skin problem that starts when oil and dead skin cells obstruct the pores. It is leads to psychological dissatisfaction of personality specially among teenagers and adolescents all over the world, including Sri Lanka. In the recent years concern raised regarding acne without gender difference, because people like to be pretty and attractive in the society. Furthermore, majority of the school students are worried about the impact of acne as they are prone to suffer by acne and they naturally feel to be pretty because of their young stage and psycho social believes and thoughts. Therefore, this study was intended to recognize and evaluate the risk factors of acne among school teenagers of Batticaloa district. Respondents of the study included the students from four leading schools in the Batticaloa during the study period. Data collected by interviewer administered questionnaire with the permission of relevant principals of the school. Analysis of data performed by statistical software (SPSS 16.0) and p value <0.05 was considered as significant for all analysis. Majority of participant were Tamil (141=73.44%) ethnic group and most of them resided at urban 136 (70.83%) local authority. The skin type of more than half of the respondents was oily. Onset age of acne lesions for many respondents (39=20.31%) was 16 years. Almost most of them (187=97.40%) had the acne lesion on the face. Acne marks significantly (X2=38.342, p=0.000) leads to major psychological worries on males compared to female students. Food habit with oily meals had significant association to the development of acne, (X2=58.521, p=0.000). Food habit, Body weight, types of skin were identified as the most significant risk factors. Marks of acne is the very serious end results and which has the significant impact on formation of psychological problems among the students specifically in males.