The relationship of the use of masks with the event of maskne on Universitas Sumatera Utara Hospital healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic mandated people to use masks to control the disease spreading. However, mask usage can cause skin-related problems such as acne, which is called maskne. This study aimed to find out whether there is a relationship between the use of masks and the event of maskne in Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) Hospital healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subjects dan Methods: This study was an observational analytic study with a cross sectional approach with consecutive sampling methods involving 100 healthcare workers at USU Hospital. Diagnosis of maskne was established through history taking and dermatological examination. The data collected was analyzed using Chi-square, Kruskal Wallis and Fisher Exact tests. This research has received approval from the Research Ethics Commission of the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Sumatera Utara and Universitas Sumatera Utara Hospital. Results: Maskne was more common in women (84.9%) in the age group 26-35 years old (69.9%). Doctors and nurses (31.5%) had more maskne, polyclinic (23.3%) was the work location that often has maskne. The use of medical masks (74.0%) had a significant relationship with the event of maskne (p=0.002), while the duration of wearing masks was 36 hours/day (80.8%), frequency of masks replacement 2 times/day (52.1%) and using 1 layer of masks (74.0%) was more often found in subjects who has maskne but did not have a significant relationship with the event of maskne. Conclusion: There is a relationship between the use of masks and the event of maskne based on the type of masks in healthcare workers Universitas Sumatera Utara Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.