A pilot study was conducted to compare
lipid components of sebum from unaffected and
acne-affected individuals. Nine males, 15-20 years old, with no
acne, or with moderate to severe
acne, were recruited. Facial images were taken with regular, polarized and fluorescent lights for each subject. Skin surface
lipids were analyzed following collection of sebum using sebutapes. As expected, the subjects with
acne had more (59%) sebum than the control subjects.
Free fatty acids were the only
lipid group that was reduced in the sebum of
acne subjects. The specific
lipid that differed the most between the two groups was
squalene, which was upregulated in
acne subjects by 2.2-fold on a quantitative basis.
Squalene also represented a significantly greater proportion of the total sebaceous
lipids in
acne patients compared to controls (20% vs. 15%). The increase in the amount of
squalene could represent a
lipid marker for
acne prone skin.