Face masks worsen acne and rosacea

With the growing awareness that masks appear to trigger acne flares, a new study has shown that rosacea could also worsen with mask-wearing.

Giovanni Damiani and colleagues looked at acne and rosacea flares triggered by mask-wearing during lockdown.

This was a multi-centre observational prospective study of adults, observing untreated acne and rosacea patients in Milan who wore masks for at least six hours a day.

After six weeks of wearing masks during quarantine, individuals’ acne and rosacea worsened, according to both self-reporting and the observations of their doctors.

As mask-wearing is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, we could see more maskne and mask rosacea. 
The authors wrote that guidelines to support the diagnosis and management of these conditions will become even more important, and further studies are needed to understand why masks cause these conditions and to find the best therapeutic approaches. 

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