Objectives: Use of facial masks since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a new type of mechanical acne termed Maskne. Long-term wear of masks can increase skin damage leading to de novo onset of, or worsening of pre-existing facial dermatoses such as acne, rosacea, and dermatitis. We have encountered numerous studies on the effects of mask wear on skin of health-care professionals, mainly COVID-19 first responders, but there seems to be scarce literature on the effects of mask wear in medical students. The objective of the study was to investigate how mask wear during the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the skin condition of clinical year medical students from Georgian Medical Universities. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted online through a survey among 152 clinical year medical students (4th, 5th, and 6th years) of Georgian Medical Universities, from February 27, 2022, to April 18, 2022. Participants’ were asked a series of questions focusing on their mask habits such as type of mask worn, duration of wear, frequency of changing the mask, and about their skin condition before and after mask usage. Results: From a total of 151 respondents, of which 69.5% (n = 105) were female and 30.5% (n = 46) were male, with majority of participants from the 5th year 48.1% (n = 62), followed by 4th year 30.5% (n = 46) and 6th year 28.5% (n = 43), 51.4% (n = 76) of students experienced acne/rosacea or had their pre-existing acne/rosacea worsen since they started wearing masks. The top three common manifestations are closed comedones 65.8% (n = 52), pustules 43% (n = 34), and papules 26.6% (n = 21). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between the type of mask used and the daily duration of wear on facial dermatoses. Conclusion: Widespread use of masks may flare up acne in some medical students causing a negative impact on their self-confidence. One of the limitation of our study is the small sample size. Furthermore, information from the participants related to hereditary and acne exposome factors that may contribute to the development of, or worsening of acne was not carried out, and no follow-up was performed. The data were collected through an online survey only, without a physical examination in person of the participants’ skin. Therefore, the details reported are up to the participants’ discretion. Further research in this area needs to be carried out with a bigger sample size and with the diagnosis of mask acne confirmed by a medical professional. It is important to diagnose and treat this new age dermatological condition in a timely manner to prevent lasting adverse effects on skin condition.

Introduction. Social media has completely taken over multiple aspects of our lives, it has a prominent influence on an individual’s decisions, particularly regarding their lifestyle. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok play a prominent role in one’s choices on their skin care, cosmetics, aesthetic procedures, and dermatological treatments. The aim of the study. To review current literature on the role of social media and its impact on skin care. Materials and methods. Search databases – Google Scholar, Research4life, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus were used. Employing content analysis, methods of comparative analysis & bibliosemantics the literature survey concerning social media and its impact on social media, was conducted. A total of 50 English language publications were selected and thoroughly reviewed based on their relevance to the subject. Results. The beauty industry uses social media as a marketing strategy to reach out to its consumers around the globe, particularly targeting consumers like adolescents and women with skin problems. In recent years, social media has turned from an entertainment platform to an educational platform for many users, providing awareness about various skin-related conditions such as skin cancer and even acne treatment. Dermatologists and medical aestheticians are being proactive in sharing information about common skin conditions. Although currently the dependency on social media has increased due to a variety of reasons, there exists a large amount of false and dubious information on the social media posted by unverified users with no legitimate medical background, hence using these sites for making choices related to our skin care is still a debatable option. Conclusions. A dermatologist is no longer the sole patient advisor, this role being gradually replaced by social media. As a result, social media users are well informed having access to a variety of information, resulting in a large number of people being influenced over their skin care choices. This may do more harm than profit, since every skin is fairly individual organ and a generalized skin care routine may not provide the desirable look one strives for.

The current millennial and generation Z are known to experience more stress than any generation before them. A fraction of individuals belonging to these generations is current foreign medical students, where medicine is known to be one of the stressful courses one can study. When this extreme stress is meet with genetic predisposition, nutritional deficiencies, internal diseases, and inappropriate hair care practices hair loss can be quite aggressive. An online survey consisting of 15 questions was conducted to find if these factors contribute to foreign medical students experiencing hair loss at a very young age and if the current chaotic environment of the covid-19 pandemic has accelerated hair loss.  81.7 %( n=156) foreign medical students belonging to ages 17 to 25 years started to experience hair loss (p= 0.0127), where stress (54.5 %( n=85)), nutritional deficiencies and internal conditions (37.5 %( n=58)) have been responded to be contributing factors for their condition. Interestingly, 54.5 %( n=85) students are experiencing hair loss after moving to Georgia (p=0.04). Despite all the acknowledgment of cause for their conditions, 92.3 %( n=144) of foreign medical students have responded to not undergo any treatments to manage and control hair loss. Additionally, 33.3 %( n=52) of students stated that they have noticed more progression in hair loss during this pandemic. If these students continue to ignore undergoing treatments then they might experience more progression in hair loss.

- After the declaration of the pandemic in March 2020, Governments around the world made social distancing a mandatory rule to practice to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection (covid-19). This action has impacted our lives in several ways, it can be stated that it might also have an impact on skin conditions or lead to skin conditions. The purpose of this survey was to assess if individuals practicing social distancing have experienced any dermatological changes. An online survey consisting of 16 questions was conducted to find out if the prolonged practice of social distancing has led to any skin conditions. 39.7 %( n=93) of individuals who took the survey stated that they have observed changes in their skin, hair, and nails, they stated that these skin changes were observed post-pandemic (p=0.00037). 33.8% (n=79) of participants stated that they are experiencing hair loss and 4.7% (n=11) of individuals noted to have observed vertical lines in their nails. Along with several factors like changes in the skincare routine, diet changes, mood changes, wearing masks, and excessive sanitization, the practice of social distancing has shown to impact changes in dermatological conditions in the pandemic. These conditions can be prevented with the right precautionary measures and can be treated under the care of a dermatologist while still practicing social distancing.