Medication and medical service utilization for acne 1995-1998

Background: Acne occurs in most persons sometime during adolescence or earl y adulthood and is a frequent reason for visits to dermatologists and for p rescription drug therapy. Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze changes in the utilizat ion of physician services and medications for the treatment of acne. Methods: An analysis was performed of data from two US federal surveys of o utpatient physician services and prescribing for the years 1980 to 1997 and two commercial sources of drug prescription data for 1996 to 1998. From th ese data, I estimated visits for acne and drugs prescribed during these vis its. Results: Visits for women principally for acne are about 80% more frequent than those for men. Each year 5 million prescriptions for oral antibiotics and 1.4 million prescriptions for isotretinoin are dispensed for the treatm ent of acne. Conclusion: Substantial health care resources are devoted to the treatment of acne, with women particularly likely to continue to frequently utilize t hese services after 19 years of age.