Acne and Agony: Why Scotland’s NHS Waiting Lists Are Failing Teenagers

For teenagers suffering the facial blight of acne, the ever-expanding waiting lists for treatment in
Scotland just adds to the agony

Young people are facing delays of years before being seen for conditions, which can cause psychological stress

By Dr Cormac Convery

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, covering about 20 square feet and accounting for 15% of body weight. It is a person’s outward presence, of primary importance to how the world sees them and to their sense of self.

So, it is disturbing that in Scotland – a country whose health reputation does it no favours – the dermatology departments in most of the main health boards, which deal with skin complaints, have waiting lists for treatment which can stretch into years.

Delays of this length have an inevitable psychological and social effect on many sufferers of conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and acne, the last of which disproportionately impacts women, five times more likely to be affected, and teenagers.

Those affected, and I’m not referring here to Skye Stout, the feisty professional footballer subjected to scandalous online abuse because of acne scarring, may become fearful of interaction with others and develop avoidance-coping mechanisms.

As with many NHS waiting lists, the situation appears to be getting worse, rather than better. Figures from NHS Grampian, released at the start of this month (August 1), show that 90% of patients waited 144 weeks – that’s nearly three years – for a routine appointment. Urgent patients took “only” a year.

NHS Borders doesn’t fare much better. There, the lists ran to 111 weeks. Figures for other health boards date back to earlier in the year, and show a considerable disparity, with some health boards, such as Ayrshire and Arran, posting maximum waits of up to 88 weeks, while Lanarkshire had a maximum time of just 21 weeks.

Waits of more than two years for NHS specialist appointments and treatment in Scotland have grown in the past year, according to figures unveiled in May this year by Public Health Scotland.

It said the waiting list for those referred to an outpatient clinic more than two years ago was at the highest level it had ever recorded, and Government targets to provide treatment within 12 weeks were still not being met for thousands of patients.

While this is dispiriting for everyone affected, it is particularly hard on teenagers, for whom appearance is so crucially important, with issues such as acne. Research from the British Journal of Dermatology confirms that acne rates among young people in the UK are rising steadily.

Between 1990 and 2021, the number of adolescents diagnosed with acne increased by 7.4%, and the actual prevalence is thought to be closer to 95% when accounting for self-managed cases.

The results from same study, released in September 2024, revealed that the UK ranks eighth globally for adolescent acne prevalence, with 14.65% of young people aged 10 to 24 receiving a diagnosis in 2021.

While acne may seem like a harmless teenage nuisance to those unaffected, it can be a personal tragedy for young people at such a formative point in their lives and surely it is incumbent on those who can alleviate their suffering to pull out all the stops to make that happen.

Dr Cormac Convery is Co-founder and Medical Director of the Ever Clinic.