A recent study showed that many teenagers will pay fortunes not to have acne.

“Almost every teenager suffers from acne, a disease that causes anxiety, depression, shame and social problems” said Dr Cynthia L. Chen (University of San Francisco, California) to Archives of Dermatology magazine.

The social and psychological effect of reducing acne “is one of the main objectives in its clinical treatment” Dr. Chen´s team worked with 266 teenagers suffering from acne, how much money will they be willing to pay to eliminate acne and its marks or at least half of it.

“Even when teenagers would choose all the hypothetical options, they will end up choosing the complete or partial cleaning with scars” the team informed.

Teenagers will pay 275 dollars for not having acne at all, 100 dollars for a full cleaning and nothing for a total cleaning that will leave scars.

“They feel that a 50% cleaning or a complete cleaning with remaining scars is a lot better than their current situation” the team informed.

Parents said that they would pay 250 dollars for their children not to have acne, 100 dollars for a full cleaning, 100 dollars for a partial cleaning and nothing for cleaning that would leave scars. according to the team, previous studies showed that 3 or 4 months of conventional anti-acne therapy with benzoic peroxide or retinoid creams and oral anti biotics usually reduces between 40 to 60% the amount of zits. Studies also showed that 95% of teenagers will have scars caused by this disease.

“Teenager’s preference for a full cleaning over a partial cleaning os a cleaning with scars, suggests that dermatologist should compare the high expectations of their patients to the results published in studies” the team concluded.

SOURCE: Archives of Dermatology, August 2008.