UCSF

Background

While clinical signs, symptoms, as well as etiology of sensitive skin in general populations have been extensively studied over the last decades, characteristics of sensitive skin in normal subjects, particularly gender-related characteristics, still remain unknown.

Objective

In the present study, we characterize facial sensitive skin in normal young Chinese.

Subjects and methods

A questionnaire was given to each participant aged 10-30 years. Clinical signs, symptoms, and associated trigger factors of facial sensitive skin were compared in normal young Chinese males versus females.

Results

After excluding subjects with pre-existing skin disorders, 475 females and 429 males out of 954 responders were included in the analyzes. Prevalence of self-reported facial sensitive skin was significantly higher in females than in males. Yet, while more females experienced various symptoms, symptoms were more severe in males than in females. However, both the prevalence and severity of clinical signs were similar in females and males. Skin care products appeared to be the major contributors to facial sensitive skin in both genders. Moreover, it appeared that females were more sensitive to environmental factors such as low humidity and sun-exposure while males were more sensitive to emotional factors. Taken together, these results demonstrate that characteristics of sensitive skin are associated with gender, while the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored.

Conclusions

There are gender differences in prevalence, symptoms, and trigger factors of facial sensitive skin in normal young Chinese.