An Assessment of Current Clinician- and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Acne Scarring and Dyspigmentation: A Scoping Review

Acne-associated scarring and dyspigmentation (ie, erythema, hyperpigmentation) are common sequelae with significant psychosocial impact, but little is known about what measures are most often used to assess these outcomes. This scoping review evaluates the use of current patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and clinician-reported outcome measures (ClinROMs) for acne scars and dyspigmentation. For scars, 7 PROMs and 18 ClinROMs were used, with most being unvalidated. Similarly, for dyspigmentation, 4 PROMs and 8 ClinROMs were identified, but no validated PROMs were identified. These results highlight reliance on unvalidated measures in research and clinical trials and suggest the need for developing high-quality validated measures, particularly PROMs, to improve research quality and develop better treatments.