OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between health status, costs linked with the treatment of acne in the United States and aspects related to medication use. METHODS: The United States Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database was analyzed for a cohort of people with acne. Patients for this study were identified using the ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision) code “706” for acne vulgaris and similar conditions (The MEPS dataset uses only the first three digits of the ICD-9 codes to identify disease states). Records of medical events were obtained using this ICD-9 code for acne and the receipt of medication for acne. This cross sectional study obtained costs, demographics, health care service utilization and clinical patient variables from the MEPS database. The subjects were divided into categories depending on type of medications used, mainly, oral antibiotics, oral retinoids, oral contraceptives, topical antibiotics, topical retinoids and oral contraceptives. The EuroQOL (EQ-5D) scores available in MEPS for subjects 18 years and older were used for obtaining health status information for these patients. Indices for medication adherence and comorbidities were also calculated using the data from the MEPS. Multivariate weighted analysis was performed on data for approximately 5 million patients (weighted sample size). RESULTS: Nearly 70% of the patients used some type of medication for acne. Acne-related medication accounted for approximately 36% of the total acne related health care costs, with an average of 2 annual acne prescription refills. Increased number of refills of acne specific drugs was associated with an improvement in health status (p<0.05). Increased office based visits were the only predictors of higher acne related health care costs (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to acne medications is an important component of better health status. Pharmacological treatment of acne does not significantly add to acne-related health care costs.