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How Does Vitamin E Help With Skin Care for Marks?

Sep 6, 2011 | By Benjamin Weeks, Ph.D.
How Does Vitamin E Help With Skin Care for Marks?
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Some skin marks are affected by vitamin E application, and others are not. While there is no clinical or scientific evidence that vitamin E can reduce freckles, vitamin E application to the skin can help reduce scarring. Vitamin E application to existing scars can reduce both their size and discoloration. It is important to stress, however, that not all scar types benefit from direct vitamin E application. Clinical studies support the benefits of vitamin E only on keloid scarring. Keloid scars extend beyond the original wound. In cases where the scar remains within the boundary of the original wound, and for stretch marks and scars involving loss of tissue, the clinical research demonstrates no benefit from vitamin E application. Vitiligo, a change in skin pigmentation, can also be treated with vitamin E.

Not All Scars Are the Same

There are three main types of scars. Atrophic scars appear as pits or depressions in the skin that are caused by the loss of adipose or muscle tissue at the time and site of injury. Stretch marks result from lateral expansion and retraction of the skin over time and are most commonly associated with pregnancy and changes in weight. Hypertrophic scars typically form because of overproduction of collagen instead of skin cells in the damaged area when skin is torn. Keloids are a type of hypertrophic scar in which fibroblasts and collagenous tissue can continue to overgrow beyond the bounds of the tissue damage and are, as such, benign neoplasms.

Clinical Studies With Scars and Vitamin E

In clinical studies, vitamin E added to silicone gel sheets and applied to keloids for 10 hours per day for two months resulted in reduced keloid formation, according to a study published in the July 1995 issue of the "International Journal of Dermatology." In another placebo-controlled clinical study published in the May 2010 issue of the "Journal of Drugs in Dermatology," the application of a vitamin E lotion reduced the size, discoloration and vascularization of keloid scarring. Several clinical studies show no benefit from vitamin E for either stretch marks or non-keloid hypertrophic scars.

Freckles and Vitamin E

While a plethora of anecdotal stories is available on the Internet and in other sources about the benefit of vitamin E for freckles, no clinical studies or sets of valid scientific data show that vitamin E can affect freckles.
Vitiligo is a skin condition involving areas of reduced or lost pigmentation. A clinical study in the July 2009 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Pharmacology" shows that oral vitamin E can improve the health of the pigment producing melanocyte cells and help to maintain pigmentation.

The Mechanism of Vitamin E Action

Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant and thus prevents damage to cell membranes. Oral vitamin E appears to protect melanocytes from oxidative damage, and it is through this mechanism that it can reduce the skin markings associated with vitiligo, according to the "Journal of Clinical Pharmacology" study cited previously. Vitamin E also activates the expression of genes required for the correct level of collagen production during healthy wound healing. Though the connection has not been established, it may be through this mechanism that vitamin E can reduce keloid formation. Further, vitamin E inactivates an enzyme known as PKC, which in some cases is associated with growth. Vitamin E may reduce the overgrowth of the keloid through inactivation of cellular enzymes.

References

Article reviewed by demand32474 Last updated on: Sep 6, 2011

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