Androgenic Hormone Profile of Adult Women with Acne

Abstract

Acne in adult women is a hard-to-manage frequent disease with many relapse cases. It mostly interferes with quality of life and causes major social and metabolic losses for patients. This is a transversal retrospective study and the aim was to standardize the research on circulating androgenic hormone levels and to detect hyperandrogenic states early, showing the frequency and the pattern of the altered hormones, useful resources to correctly evaluate each patient. in this study 835 women above 15 years of age, with acne or aggravation cases, were analyzed. the aim was to verify the percentage of androgen examinations with levels above normal. the levels of the hormones dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydrotestosterone, androstenedione and total testosterone were measured in all patients. the evaluation of the hormone profile showed that 54.56% of the patients had hyperandrogenism, and the levels of DHEA were most frequently elevated. Therefore, in the face of the importance of hyperandrogenism in the pathogenesis of acne, standardizing the research of the hormone profile is paramount for the treatment and control of relapses in case of a surge of acne break-outs during a woman's adult life. Copyright (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel