The relationship between blood lipids profile and acne

Minimal reports are available on the relationship between blood lipids such as cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and acne. Most of available literature was about the effect of drugs used in acne treatment on these parameters. In this work we determined plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C and LDL-C levels in 166 (83 males and 83 females) newly diagnosed untreated Jordanian acne patients and compared with 105 (52 males and 53 females) of age and sex matched healthy controls. Results indicated that acne patients, males and females, had significantly low plasma HDL-C levels (p = 0.000). Plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-C levels were shown to be within the normal range except for triglycerides and LDL-C levels in severe acne cases for both sexes, were shown to be significantly elevated compared with those in healthy controls (p = 0.004 and 0.000 consequently). It has been noticed that there was a trend for plasma HDLC of acne patients to decrease as the severity of acne condition increases. Our results indicated that acne patients have significant changes in the plasma lipids profile that should be considered in the pathogenesis as well as in the treatment of acne.