Parents to blame for teen acne?

Teenagers' odds of developing moderate to severe acne, may largely depend on whether their parents had the problem, suggests a new study.

Most teens have occasional acne breakouts with hormonal shifts of adolescence, especially the increase in testosterone, the main cause. But some teens and adults, develop more-comprehensive acne that requires treatment with appropriate prescriptions, or oral medications such as antibiotics or Isotretinoin, a synthetic form of vitamin A.

It has been unclear why some teenagers are prone to more severe acne.

The new findings from a study of 1,000 Iranian high school students, suggest that family history can be key.

The researchers found that 14 percent of the students had moderate to severe acne, with the prevalence varies considerably, based on family history. Of teenagers who have parents or siblings have had moderate to severe acne, 20 percent had the same problem.

In comparison, the price was 10 percent among adolescents with no such family history, researchers report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

The findings point to the importance of genetics in whether a teenager will have more severe acne, according to senior researcher Dr. Christos C. Zouboulis, in Dessau Medical Center in Germany.

"Therefore, children with parents who have experienced severe acne must be followed up regularly and treated earlier, when acne lesions occur," he told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

And mothers' history may be particularly important, Zouboulis and his colleagues found.

Mom's acne tripled teen risk

Teens whose mothers had moderate to severe acne were three times as likely to develop problems as their peers were. When fathers had skin condition, the children's risk increased twofold.

This, according to the researchers, increases the chance that a genetic characteristic associated with the X-chromosome plays role. (All inherits an X chromosome from their mother, while fathers contributes an X chromosome of female children only.)

Besides family history, there were other suspects in the high school students' acne risk, Zouboulis and his colleagues found.

Teens with oily skin, for example, were more likely than those with "normal" skin to have moderate to severe acne. And for girls, the problem was more likely to flare up shortly before their menstruation.

There was also evidence of a higher risk among teens who often ate greasy or sugary foods.

Most previous studies have suggested that certain foods play little or no role in acne development. But, said Zouboulis, some more-recent research suggests that diet may have an effect on acne severity.

But, he added, it remains unclear which foods or food components may be involved.