Impact of Ramadan fasting on acne improvement

Acne vulgaris is a common skin disorder. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of Ramadan fasting on acne healing in patients admitted to the dermatology clinic, Razi Hospital, Tehran.
In this prospective cohort study, 10 fasting persons (9 women and 1 man) and 10 non-fasting persons (9 women and 1 man) with acne were studied. Their baseline acne severities were recorded and acne improvement was evaluated in both groups after Ramadan month.
Acne improvement was 71% in fasting persons and 49% in non-fasting persons. Improvement in fasting persons i.e. was 1.4 times of non-fasting ones (P=0.158). However, no significant statistical difference was detected. Also, it was determined that improvement was different according to acne grading. Improvement in acne lesions in patients with grade 2 severity was 100%, in those with grade 3 acne was 78%, and in patients with grade 4 acne was 35 % (P=0.025). But in non-fasting patients there was not a statistical difference between acne severity and improvement rate. Furthermore in patients younger than 24, improvement rate of acne was 1.6 fold more than non-fasting persons and in patients older than 24, this ratio was 1.3 (P=0.011).
This study did not show any statistically significant difference in acne improvement between who were fasting and who were not during Ramadan. Studies with larger sample size are recommended.