An investigation of the use of hay fever masks for the youth.

Specific examinations of university students in Japan revealed numerous people affected by hay fever among the younger population, various measures for hay fever prevention and dissatisfaction with commercially available hay fever masks. Questionnaire replies from 1519 students demonstrated the following results: (1) those with hay fever accounted for 36.5% of males and 44.0% of females; (2) masks and chemicals were mainly used hay fever treatments; (3) 38.4% males and 41.0% females wore masks to prevent problems from hay fever; (4) almost all of the users reported problems with commercially available hay fever masks; (5) male mask users reported 'humidity' and 'occurrence of mist over glasses', whereas female users reported 'ruining make-up', 'humidity', and 'breathing difficulties' as problems. These results confirmed that many young people suffered from hay fever. Further, we investigated the use of hay fever masks among young patients and the factors that could improve the effectiveness of the masks and eliminate the discomfort caused by masks used to prevent hay fever.