Knowledge about, attitude toward, and practices in skin care among Thai adolescents

Background Skin care for maintaining skin integrity includes cleansing, skin product use, and photoprotection. Inappropriate skin care can lead to skin problems. Aims To evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices in skin care among Thai adolescents. Patients/Methods Questionnaire-based, descriptive, cross-sectional study. Results A total of 588 Thai adolescent students (mean age: 15.6 +/- 1.8 years, 50.5% female) were included. Of those who responded, 99.5% knew the benefits of cleansing, and 95.9% knew the benefits of skin care products. Skin products, moisturizer, and sunscreen were used by 87.8%, 80.8%, and 71.5% of students, respectively. Female teenagers used moisturizers, cosmetics, and sunscreen significantly more than males (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). High school teenagers applied cosmetics more than junior high school teenagers (p = 0.004). Ninety-three percent of adolescents knew the effects of sunlight, but only 27.4% regularly applied sunscreen. The sources of knowledge were from person, online social media, print media, and television/radio in 88.5%, 77.5%, 30.7%, and 26.1%, respectively. Data from physicians and parents were trusted by 65.3% and 64.2%, respectively. Most (74.1%) adolescents searched for data from more than 1 source. Adolescent females and high school adolescents demonstrated significantly more accurate knowledge and practice in cleansing and photoprotection (p < 0.001) compared with adolescent males and junior high school adolescents. Knowledge and practices did not significantly correlate with underlying skin diseases or monthly allowance. Conclusion Gender and education level were found to significantly influence knowledge and practice in skin care among adolescents in Thailand.