People with acne 'viewed negatively'

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Acne “significantly influences” how individuals are perceived in social settings – particularly among women, according to a study.

Research, presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2023, found faces with acne are regarded as less attractive, trustworthy, confident, successful, dominant and happy. Women, in particular, are viewed negatively if they have acne.

The research, led by Dr Marek Jankowski, assistant professor of dermatology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland, assessed the effect of different anatomical variants of acne on natural gaze patterns and social perception.

The team tracked the eye movements of 245 participants, whose mean age was 31.63 years, who viewed neutral and emotional faces of females, some of whom had clear skin and others who had clinically relevant anatomical variants of acne.

Images were rated for acne-related visual disturbance while emotional faces were rated for valence intensity.

Separately, a group of 205 online survey respondents, whose mean age was 35.08 years, were asked to rate the personality traits of the individuals depicted in the images.