Profiling Steroid Users Based on Acne

The profiling of steroid users based on various physical characteristics seems to be gaining popularity. The federal government appears prepared to use physical characteristics (e.g. changes in muscularity, etc) as indicative of steroid use in the perjury trial of Barry Bonds. Muscularity has been used as putative evidence of steroid use in order to obtain search warrants in Oklahoma. Pro bodybuilders have been detained and forced to submit to drug testing in Sweden simply because of their muscularity.

Muscle profiling isn’t the only type of profiling that has been used in the war on steroids in sports.  Some sportswriters use acne as irrefutable evidence of steroid use. For example, Murray Chass has maintained for years that Mike Piazza used anabolic steroids because he observed acne on Piazza’s back. Since (back) acne is a common side effect of steroids, steroid users are more likely to experience acne. However, not all steroid users experience back acne and most people with back acne don’t use steroids.

Back acne is experienced by 10-20 percent of adults in the same age bracket as Piazza. It is much more common in individuals who are physically active and perspire a lot which can make them more susceptible to clogged pores. Consequently, back acne is more common in athletes than the general population. Dermatologists interviewed by Howard Megdal for New York Baseball Digest agreed that acne was a poor predictor of steroid use.

But would Piazza, a man in his 20s and 30s during his playing career, be as susceptible to back acne as a teenager? According to these dermatologists, he is a prime candidate for the symptoms Chass described without steroid use.

“One of the major causes of [back acne] is if someone sweats a lot, wears heavy equipment, wears, as Piazza did, heavy uniforms,” Dr. Ira Davis, a Staten Island dermatologist, said in a telephone interview.

Profiling steroid users based on physical characteristics is problematic for several reasons and should always be scrutinized.

Read more at Steroids.Info: Mike Piazza Used Steroids Based on Back Acne According to Sportswriter

Read more at New York Baseball Digest: Three Out of Three Doctors Agree