Occupational facial dermatoses related to mask use in healthcare professionals

January 26, 2021

Ece Altun MD, Filiz Topaloglu Demir MD

Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology

In this study, healthcare professionals working at Medipol Mega University Hospital since the onset of the pandemic were screened for facial dermatoses between December 2020 and February 2021 with a dermatological examination and interview.Of the 101 healthcare professionals, 51 (50.5%) were physicians and 50 (49.5%) were nurses, and 36 (35.6%) were men and 65 (64.4%) were women. All participants had been actively working in the hospital for 35-46 weeks since the onset of the pandemic and wore N95 or surgical masks for an average of 6-13 h per day. During dermatologic examination, the most common facial dermatosis was acne, which was observed in 55.4% (n = 56) of the cases. Of the 56 acne cases, 41.1% (n = 23) had acne in their history, while 58.9% (n = 33) had new-onset acne. Being female, use of an N95 surgical mask compared to surgical mask, and mean daily duration of mask use were determined to be risk factors for acne development due to mask use.Mask use, most frequently N95, caused both an increase in existing acne and the development of new acne.

Ece Altun & Filiz Topaloglu Demir: Occupational facial dermatoses related to mask use in healthcare professionals. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 2021; 00: 1– 7.

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