Acne Doesn’t Fix Itself

A teenage boy came in with his mother for mild acne on his face. His mother is very, very concerned about his acne, but he is not, as seen with his PRO scores:

PRO – Dermatology Scores

Skindex-16 Emotions 3

Skindex-16 Symptoms 0

Skindex-16 Functioning 0

The dermatologist explains to the patient’s mom that topical acne regimens are sometimes complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. Based on his PRO scores, the patient is not bothered by his acne at this point in his life and it doesn’t appear to be scarring, so he should just use over-the-counter medicated washes and come back when the acne bothers him. Mom was highly disappointed by this recommendation.

A year and a half later, the patient and his mother returned for his acne. Here are his new PRO scores:

PRO – Dermatology Scores

Skindex-16 Emotions 56

Skindex-16 Symptoms 10

Skindex-16 Functioning 7

The patient is now much more bothered by his acne, and he’s ready to start a more complicated, prescription regimen.