---
title: Basfar 2023 — Severity of acne, stress, and food habits of medical students at Taif University, Saudi Arabia
entity_type: Source
canonical_url: https://skinknowledgebase.com/sources/basfar-2023-stress-acne-severity
date_modified: 2026-05-20
date_reviewed: 2026-05-20
mcp_eligible: true
summary: A 2023 cross-sectional study found an association between perceived stress and acne severity among medical students, without proving stress is the sole cause.
source_type: peer_reviewed
original_source_url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37303837/
evidence_sources: []
product_fact_sources: []
---

# Basfar 2023 — Severity of acne, stress, and food habits of medical students at Taif University, Saudi Arabia

## Quick Summary

Cross-sectional PubMed-indexed study used for cautious stress and acne-severity association context.

## What Studied

Cross-sectional study of acne severity, perceived stress, and food habits among 585 undergraduate medical students.

## Main Findings

Students with severe stress had higher mean acne severity scores, and perceived stress scores had a positive correlation with acne severity scores.

## Why It Matters

It supports cautious wording that stress may be linked with acne severity for some people, while the study design cannot prove stress alone causes breakouts.

## Related Entities

- [Does stress cause breakouts?](https://skinknowledgebase.com/questions/does-stress-cause-breakouts)