Association of Acne Vulgaris with Quality of Life, Body Image Satisfaction, and Self-Esteem among Egyptian Adolescents; A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory dermatological lesion that affects about 25% of Egyptian adolescents, with the possibility of a negative psycho-social impact. The objective was to assess level of body image satisfaction, self-esteem, and quality of life (QoL) among adolescents with AV and to identify factors associated with patients’ QoL. A cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescents with AV who were clinically classified into different severity grades. All patients completed Body Image Satisfaction Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Acne Quality of Life Scale. Result: A total of 285 adolescents were included. The mean age was 15.67±1.97 years and 74% of them were females. Approximately 17% of patients had severe acne and 70.7% had poor QoL, 51.9% had low self-esteem and 48.4% were dissatisfied with their body image. Overweight, obesity, and moderate acne significantly and independently increased risk of body image dissatisfaction by 19.255, 7.495, and 20.359 folds, respectively. Overweight, obese, moderate, severe acne, middle socioeconomic standard (SES), and longer duration significantly and independently increased risk of low self-esteem by 13.221, 7.892, 2.739, 4.734, 2.874 and 1.446 folds, respectively. Body image dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem, significantly and independently increase risk of poor QoL by 7.762 and 12.257 folds, respectively. Conclusions: AV potentially was associated with impairment of self-esteem; body image satisfaction and QoL. Abnormally high BMI, low self-esteem, body image dissatisfaction, male sex, and middle SES were risk factors of poor QoL. Comprehensive rather than disease-centered approach is mandatory to improve patients’ overall health.