Ovulatory patterns in women with juvenile and late-onset/persistent acne vulgaris

The ovulatory patterns in women with acne vulgaris were evaluated in order to understand their relationship with androgenic levels. Ovulation disturbances were found in 58.3% of patients with prevalence of anovulation in the juvenile acne and of luteal insufficiency in the late-onset/persistent acne. Significant negative correlation was found between T free and P in the late-onset/persistent group (r: -0.629; p = 0.016): This may be interpreted as a rather steady endocrine status in which the raised androgenic levels, probably due to peripheral conversion, are concomitant to absent or insufficient ovulations. In the younger patients both the androgen excess and the ovulation disturbances could be due to an abnormal or delayed maturation of the hypothalamus-pituitary ovarian axis. The evaluation of the ovarian function in women with acne vulgaris may be useful to detect ovulatory disturbances in view of a possible resolution of both the problems by specific endocrine management.