Does early acne intervention provide more than just a reduction in the incidence of scars? A review of the literature

Ayesha Vos

doi:10.7241/ourd.20214.11

Abstract

Background: It is well established that early intervention in acne treatment reduces the incidence of scars. The purpose of this paper was to identify if early intervention in acne management also provides a cost benefit to the patient, reduces relapse rates or lessens the requirement for the treatment of acne scars. Method: A systematic search of The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was performed independently by one reviewer using predefined criteria. Results: Seven articles were identified from the literature – one systematic review, one review article and five expert opinion articles. Although data supports early intervention in acne management, no articles identified whether a cost benefit was also provided, if there was a reduction in the relapse rates or if there was a decreased requirement for the treatment of acne scars. Conclusions: This review identifies an overall lack of published data regarding multiple outcomes for early intervention in acne and allows for the possible identification of areas where primary research would be beneficial.

Highlights

Acne is a disease of the pilosebaceous unit resulting in non-inflammatory lesions including microcomedones and comedones as well as inflammatory lesions comprising papules, pustules, nodules and cysts [1]
This review aims to investigate whether early intervention in acne provides a cost-benefit to the patient, reduces the need for treatment of acne scarring and reduces relapse rates
Studies identified focussed on optimising acne management and patient education in order to reduce the incidence of acne scarring with Bonney et al (2016) suggesting that acne outcomes can be improved when general practitioners are able to recognise acne scarring early [7]

Summary

Introduction

Acne is a disease of the pilosebaceous unit resulting in non-inflammatory lesions including microcomedones and comedones as well as inflammatory lesions comprising papules, pustules, nodules and cysts [1]. This review aims to investigate whether early intervention in acne provides a cost-benefit to the patient, reduces the need for treatment of acne scarring and reduces relapse rates. The purpose of this paper was to identify if early intervention in acne management provides a cost benefit to the patient, reduces relapse rates or lessens the requirement for the treatment of acne scars. Data supports early intervention in acne management, no articles identified whether a cost benefit was provided, if there was a reduction in the relapse rates or if there was a decreased requirement for the treatment of acne scars. Conclusions: This review identifies an overall lack of published data regarding multiple outcomes for early intervention in acne and allows for the possible identification of areas where primary research would be beneficial

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