The Link Between Acne & Mental Health

Dr. Catherine Zip – Calgary, AB

Can you talk to me a little bit about the link between acne, specifically and mental health?

So we have very good data that acne has profound impacts on quality of life. We know that individuals with acne are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and decreased self-esteem. We know that younger people with acne are more likely to be bullied and targeted online. So acne has profound impacts on quality of life.

What advice do you give to patients who are having mental health challenges specifically related to their skin?

I guess as dermatologists, we really try to improve their skin and and I think it really is important to dial into the impact on quality of life, because it amps up our efforts. So if we know that people are really struggling with mental health because of their skin condition, we’re going to be more aggressive in our efforts to bring that under control quickly.

We also may recommend counselling, maybe having that discussion with their family doctor as well in terms of their mental health, but really, as skin specialists, we’re going to be targeting our treatment to improve their skin as quickly as we can,

I want to ask about the supports that are available to folks who are struggling with their mental health due to acne.

As dermatologists, we are definitely going to be more aggressive if we know people are struggling; we are going to offer more treatments that we know are going to work and in a timely manner. Also sending a letter back to their family doctor to say that this came up in the conversation, and ask them to reach out to that person for support with their mental health.

Do you find that what you see in your office in terms of mental health impact differs for teenagers with acne, for example, and then someone who is older, like in perimenopause? Do the mental health challenges present differently in those age groups?

In the adult realm, specifically with women, it’s like “I shouldn’t have acne in my stage of life, like I feel that I’m working my way up this corporate ladder, and here I have acne, and it’s just drawing me down professionally.” That’s what we see in adult women. And they feel that they’re judged and that it decreases professionalism. And I think for adult women, it’s often in a work environment that they feel like it’s dragging them down.

Are there any other thoughts in general that you’d like to share on the link between

acne and mental health?

I think the other thing is prescription acne medications and mental health. When you look at studies of individuals going through a course of prescription acne medications, they will often have better self-esteem. They feel decreased anxiety and depression, and that seems to correlate with how much improvement they are experiencing in their skin.

So that’s what I tell people who have that hesitation (with prescription acne medications). The vast majority of individuals are going to have a very positive experience in terms of feeling improvement in self-esteem and mood. As the skin improves, so does the mood improve, and so does self-esteem improve.