Raised serum androgens and increased responsiveness to luteinizing hormone in men with acne vulgaris

We have investigated the hormone profiles and the relationship between serum testosterone and luteinizing hormone in men with long-standing acne vulgaris. In the controls, age correlated with the free androgen index and with serum dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate, so for the purposes of comparison 33 men with acne vulgaris were age-matched against 33 controls. Compared with controls, the acne patients had higher medians of serum androstenedione, testosterone and free androgen index. In both groups there was a significant correlation between testosterone and luteinizing hormone levels. For a given level of luteinizing hormone the patients with acne tended to have higher levels of serum testosterone than normal controls. These results indicate that in this group of men with long-standing acne there was either increased responsiveness of the target organ to luteinizing hormone or there was an increased amount of androgen-secreting tissue.