Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Patients with Acne Vulgaris and Factors Perceived to Trigger the Disease
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: Acne vulgaris (AV) is among the common skin diseases for which patients refer to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Aims and Objectives: To investigate the approaches to CAM methods and factors believed to increase the disease in 1,571 AV patients. Materials and Methods: The sociodemographic characteristics of the patients and disease severity according to the Food and Drug Administration criteria were recorded. The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) was used to assess the impact of acne on the patient's life and the history of CAM use was noted. The patients also listed the factors that they thought worsened their disease and reported their gluten-free diet experiences. Results: Of all the patients, 74.41% had a history of using CAM methods. CAM use was significantly higher in women, patients with severe AV, those with a higher CADI score and non-smokers. As a CAM method, 66.37% of the patients reported having used lemon juice. The respondents most frequently applied CAM methods before consulting a physician (43.94%), for a duration of 0-2 weeks (38.97%). They learned about CAM methods on the internet (56.24%) and considered CAM methods to be natural (41.86%). The patients thought that food (78.55%) and stress (17.06%) worsened their disease. They considered that the most common type of food that exacerbated their symptoms was junk food (63.84%) and a gluten-free diet did not provide any benefit in relieving AV (50%). Conclusion: Physicians need to ask patients about their CAM use in order to be able to guide them appropriately concerning treatments and applications with a high level of evidence.
Source: Indian Journal of Dermatology
Authors: Melek Aslan Kayıran, Ayşe Serap Karadağ, Gökçen Alyamaç, Bengü Çevirgen Cemil, Düriye Deniz Demirseren, Yuhanize Taş Demircan, Hasan Aksoy, Sevilay Kılıç, Esma İnan Yüksel, Göknur Kalkan, Sema Elibüyük Aksaç, Ömer Kutlu, Sümeyye Altıntaş Kakşi, Aysun Şikar Aktürk, Sezgi Sarıkaya Solak, Serkan Yazıcı, Hatice Kaya Özden, Mahmut Can Koska, Tuğba Kevser Uzunçakmak, Arzu Ataseven, Begüm Işık, Erkan Alpsoy
Institutions: Istanbul Medeniyet University, Adana Hospital, MESA Hospital, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Seyhan Devlet Hastanesi, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi, Fırat University, Mersin Şehir Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Usak University, Kocaeli Üniversitesi, Trakya University, Bursa Uludağ Üni̇versi̇tesi̇, Health Sciences University Derince Training and Research Hospital, Ministry of Health, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Necmettin Erbakan University, Akdeniz University
Language: English
Subfield: Complementary and alternative medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4297129906