Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Acne – Have You Heard of It?







The American Acne & Rosacea Society (AARS) has declared June “National Acne Awareness Month.” This struck me as kind of funny. It’s not like melanoma, where you need to publicize it so people know to look for it. I’m pretty sure that anyone who has had acne is aware of it. Why does it need a month?  Here's why...

A study was conducted last year by the AARS in which pictures of teens (some clear-skinned and others digitally altered to look like they had acne) were shown to 1000 adults and 1000 teens. It probably comes as no surprise that both adults and teens viewed the acne-free kids more favorably than the ones with acne. Teens and adults alike reported that, when viewing an image of a person with acne, the acne was the first thing they noticed.

The survey also asked questions of teens who themselves had acne in an attempt to determine how big a problem their skin condition is to them. Adults also were asked to say how much they figured kids' acne bothered them. While the adults tended to minimize acne's impact, acne-plagued teens reported that their zits made them feel pretty bad. Get this: 59 percent said they'd be willing to forego Facebook for a year in exchange for being acne-free forever. And 13 percent of the kids with acne were so truly desperate they said they'd ask their mom or dad to be their date for the prom if they could get rid of their pimples!

I think we're all pretty aware of acne already. The purpose of National Acne Awareness Month is to impress upon parents and physicians what a big deal acne really can be to teenagers who have it. It needs to be seen as a disease, not just as a cosmetic problem.  Maybe what we really need is a National Shallow-People-Who-Judge-Based-on-Appearance Awareness Month.