Vol. 42, No. 1, pp.22-29, 2008White blood cell fractions, oxidation index and level of stress in acne patients and healthy volunteers

In recent years, a lot of people have suffered physical and mental stress. It makes sympathetic nerves dominant, and autonomic nerves unbalanced. Disruption of the balance in autonomic nerves leads to the increase of granulocyte, and causes various undesirable physical conditions. We investigated the relationship between stress and acne in order to confirm the influence of stress on skin conditions. The degree of subjective stress, and the ratio of neutrophils or lymphocytes in leukocytes were measured in acne patients and healthy volunteers. As it is suggested that the increase of the neutrophil ratio by stress makes reactive oxygen, and raises the degree of oxidation in the blood, we also measured the antioxidant action and the degree of oxidative stress by FRAS4. Additionally, the lifestyle characteristics in each group was investigated in order to confirm the relationship with stress by a questionnaire survey. According to the results of the questionnaire survey, acne patients find themselves readily suffering from acne anytime. Compared with healthy volunteers, acne patients have more undesirable lifestyles and higher stress degrees than healthy volunteers. Further, the Biological Antioxidant Potential (BAP), an antioxidant index measured in acne patients, was significantly lower ( P  < 0.0001) than that of healthy volunteers. The acne patients had a higher ratio of neutrophils and a lower ratio of lymphocytes compared to the healthy volunteers. Among the acne patients, the neutrophil ratio was higher in those with high stress ( P  < 0.05). These results suggest that acne patients easily feel higher stress against various loads, and the stress leads to the increase in the neutrophil ratio and the oxidation degree, which exacerbates the acne lesions.
Keywords: acne, stress, autonomic nerve, sympathetic nerve, white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte, oxidation, life style, skin