Make-up improves the quality of life of acne patients without aggravating acne eruptions during treatments.

Boehncke et al. suggested that decorative cosmetics can improve the quality of life (QOL) of skin diseases. But dermatologists sometimes discourage female acne patients from applying make-up since decorative cosmetics are considered one of the aggravating factors for acne eruptions. The purpose of this study is to assess whether make-up application interferes with acne treatments and how QOL changes when the make-up items are designed for acne patients and used in order to disguise acne eruptions. Eighteen female acne patients were trained by a make-up artist and advised to apply acne-designed basic and decorative cosmetics for 2 to 4 weeks while their acne was appropriately treated. The acne-severity and QOL of patients were assessed before and after the study. The results revealed that the number of acne eruptions decreased even though patients were applying make-up. The QOL scores of Skindex-16, GHQ30 and anxiety state index greatly improved. Our results suggest that dermatologists should encourage acne patients to utilize appropriate make-up to improve their QOL.