Psychological and sympatho-adrenal status in patients with cystic acne

Background Patients with cystic acne (CA) frequently report feeling self conscious, anxiety and social isolation. Methods Mood characteristics as well as self-esteem scores of 38 patients with CA were evaluated before and after 30 days treatment with isotretinoin. A high pressure, liquid chromatography method was used for the evaluation of catecholamines (epinephrine (E) and nor-epinephrine (NE)) in the blood of the patients at the time of the study and in controls (n=30) after their psychological testing. Moreover, E and NE were measured in the blood of eight healthy volunteers before and after 1 month ‘treatment’ with the drug. Results The CA subjects evidenced anxiety and high catecholamine plasma levels (E=98.0±0.8 pg/ml, NE=250.8±56.6 pg/ml) before treatment compared to controls (E=71.8±23.0 pg/ml, NE=190.0±52 pg/ml, P