The Group of Experts involved 17 dermatologists who achieved a consensus on patient- and treatment-related factors for patient-centric acne management. Recommendations were developed based on factors like acne sequelae, location of acne, high disease burden and individual patient characteristics and these recommendations were incorporated into the Personalized Acne Treatment Tool.

Recommendations for managing truncal acne when it concurs with facial acne:

•    Truncal acne requires a distinct management approach separate from facial acne.•    Consider morphological types of lesions present and the extent of body surface area affected when individualizing treatment selection for patients with truncal acne.•    Note the specific location of lesions on the trunk when selecting truncal acne treatment.•    Important considerations for selecting truncal acne treatment include efficacy, ease of spread, potential adverse events, potential to bleach/stain clothing, local tolerability and patient preference.•    Clinical scenarios that may warrant a more aggressive treatment approach than usual include the presence of truncal nodules, deep inflammatory lesions and acne-induced scarring, in addition to a significant impact on the quality of life, physical pain, high psychosocial burden of acne and large body surface area affected.•    Systemic therapy may be more appropriate than topical therapy for patients with acne lesions in hard-to-reach trunk areas.•    Topical formulations such as lotion, foam and gel are considered appropriate for use in patients with truncal acne.Recommendations for individualizing a management approach for patients with acne sequelae:•    Promptly escalate treatment for active acne lesions in patients with acne-induced scarring, macular hyperpigmentation and acne-induced macular erythema.•    Consider selecting a treatment that addresses both active acne lesions and existing acne-induced macular hyperpigmentation in at-risk patients.•    Mitigate or reduce the risk of developing acne-induced macular hyperpigmentation in the future by selecting appropriate management strategies for at-risk patients.•    Combination therapy, involving two different topical treatments or a combination of topical and oral treatments, should be considered to target multiple pathways in acne pathophysiology and prevent the development of acne-induced macular hyperpigmentation.•    Advise patients at risk of acne-induced macular hyperpigmentation to use sunscreen.•    When treating active acne lesions in patients with concomitant acne-induced scarring, account for the severity, size and morphology of the scars.(to be contd..)

Source: Layton AM, Alexis A, Baldwin H, et al. The Personalized Acne Treatment Tool - Recommendations to facilitate a patient-centered approach to acne management from the Personalizing Acne: Consensus of Experts. JAAD Int. 2023;12:60-9.