Maskne: A potential entity during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract Background: Maskne is a current issue among professionals as well as in the general public due to the regular wearing of face masks. Objective: To see the frequency of maskne among doctors serving at different hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 61 doctors over 3 months by self-administered semi-structured survey questionnaire and also by google formed questionnaire. Means with standard deviations (SD) were used to describe continuous variables and for categorical variables frequency distribution was done. Categorical data were compared using the Chi-square. A p-value less than 0.05 was deemed to represent significance for all comparisons. Results: About 90.2 % of doctors under study developed facial dermatoses due to masks and 39.3% of them suffered from maskne. Female doctors (87.5%) were commonly affected, mostly those who had pre-existing acne, and these two factors were statistically significant (p-value< 0.05). Limitatitions: Studies related to maskne are limited. Conclusions: To facilitate maskne diagnosis and its prompt treatment, a dermatological guideline is needed. Keywords: Maskne, Acne, Acne mechanica, COVID-19 |