Recent surveys held in the United States of America reveal that more than 15,000,000 teenagers are afflicted with the skin condition Acne vulgaris, or what is more commonly known as acne.

The Ortho Pharmaceutical Group in the United States was responsible for the wide survey regarding the current proliferation of Acne vulgaris among teenagers in America. In a world that 1 million is already a staggering figure, 15 million plus teenagers is more than staggering, it's already alarming.

There are many general preconceptions regarding the appearance of acne in teenagers. The survey made on behalf of the Ortho Pharmaceutical Group also asked guardians and parents what they think is the cause of the appearance of acne in their children. And the results are as follows:

- "We think it is because of what he/she eats"- 52%

- "He/she has it because he/she has very, very oily hair"- 68%

- "My child does not clean his/her face often enough and thoroughly enough."-78%

These are the three leading preconceptions regarding the cause of acne among the 15 million plus American teenagers. On a deeper, more personal level, 58% of the guardians and parents said that the presence of acne has a negative effect on the lives of the teenagers. We can attribute this to the loss of self-confidence because the teenagers look different with acne.

A sizeable 20% of the guardians and parents admitted that they believe that people, consciously or unconsciously, avoid individuals who have very visible acne. Whether it be an irrational fear of getting "infected" by people who have acne, or out vanity, it was unclear.

OTC and Prescription Treatment

Out of the 15 million plus teenagers who have the skin condition, around 6.5 million teenagers admitted that one time or another, they tried using over the counter treatments for acne. These products are mostly ointments and creams that have one or two active ingredients. The active ingredients involved, like benzoyl peroxide, were integrated into the mixtures to flush out the bacteria present in the acne lesions, which are actually the root cause of acne.

Out of the 6.5 million American teenagers who trusted over the counter medications, about half of them discontinued further use of the products that they bought because the effects were not obvious enough to sustain their faith in the non-prescribed treatments for acne.

Do teenagers still go to doctors to consult about their acne? A very, very small percentage still do. Around 14% went to their family doctors or to clinics to get prescriptions for their acne problems. Within this very small figure, around 60% were generally happy that they did get to see a doctor for their skin problem.

These statistics and figures tell us one interesting yet saddening truth: that in the effort to treat a medical condition (acne is still a medical condition), very, very few teenagers bother to go to dermatologists. Most dermatologists are well trained in the science of the skin, and acne is just one simple problem that may be treated with the proper prescription medications. Generally, dermatologists in the US encourage people to consult when they have skin problems because even the most severe cases of ace respond well to the right types of treatment.