Last week, I was hanging out with a guy friend when the subject of acne came up. (Clearly, I know how to regale men.) I offhandedly mentioned the prevalence of acne among adult women compared to men, and he was baffled. "Do women really get more pimples than men?" he asked. Uh, yeah. I explained that thanks to hormones, women are more likely to experience breakouts along the jawline and on the chin. He had no idea. (Lucky lad.)
Now there's more than anecdotal evidence that women break out more often. A University of Alabama study found that not only do females get more zits than men, we tend to get them around the time of our periods. (For this, they needed to do a study?) Some other findings:
- During their 20s, 50.9 percent of women experience acne. By the time we're in our 50s, that percentage is down to just 15.3.
- Of the pre-menopausal women surveyed, 62.2 percent noted that their acne gets worse around the time of menstruation.
- 73.3 percent of men and women have experienced acne.
I suppose it's good to understand who's getting acne, but gosh, I could have saved these researchers some time. Just swing on by my place once a month and see my chinny-chin-chin erupt into Vesuvial proportions. Are you surprised by these findings?