The Use of complementary and alternative medicine among acne vulgaris patients in Lithuania

Abstract

Backgraund. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country’s own tradition or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant health-care system (1). Current research shows the increase in the CAM usage in various countries including China and the USA, especcially among patients with chronic illnesses as well as in dermatology. Complementary therapies have been studied in many skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis, psoriasis (2) and acne (3). According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, acne vulgaris affects ~85% of young adults aged 12–25. Acne consistently represents the top three most prevalent skin conditions in the general population, as found in large studies within the UK, France, and the USA (4) and the Global Burden of Disease Project estimates the prevalence of acne at 4% to 9%, ranking it as the eighth most prevalent disease worldwide (5). The pathogenesis of acne is a result of multifaceted processes within the pilosebaceous unit resulting in bacterial overgrowth and inflammation. Propionibacterium acnes, a normal component of the cutaneous flora, inhabits the pilosebaceous unit using lipid-rich sebum as a nutrient source (6).The conventional medicine for acne treatment are oral and topic retinoids, oral and topic antibiotics, benzoyl peroxide, adapalene, azelaic acid (7,8) but not always are these measures effective. The WHO recomends integrative medicine practice, which is now widely accepted as the appropriate terms for describing the adjunctive role played by complementary therapies as part of multidisciplinary mainstream acne care. A number of studies prove the effectivesness of some of these measures (9). The aim of the current study was to assess the use of CAM modalities among Acne Vulgaris patients in Lithuania[...].