Acne and one‘s self confidence: cross-sectional study on Malaysian student population

Introduction: Self-confidence of an individual must be motivated by self without the inference of any internal or external consequences. Acne is a common skin defect among adolescents, and even in adults that can cause psychological weakness affecting one’s self-confidence level. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of acne on the self-esteem of young adults of Malaysian student population. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional survey was done using a newly developed questionnaire having majorly close ended (in 2-point scale) questions. Total of 185 Malaysian MBBS students were randomly chosen, and only 171 valid responses from the victims of acne were analyzed. Results: Among the students with acne problems, 88% of them opine that they lose their self-confidence due to the effect of acne. Out of this, 78% of them were preferred to associated with the people where as 22% of the students do not prefer to be involved with the individuals. Conclusion: From the results, it was found that acne significantly reduces self-confidence of a majority of students whereas a small group of participants does believe that acne does not describe them. Students with acne problems are more self-conscious and perform poorly in social life. It is regardless of the clinical severity of their acne. In conclusion, acne influences students’ ability in public affairs.