Vitamin E doesn’t enhance wound healing

Unfortunately, in practice vitamin E preparations have not been shown to provide wound healing benefits.

A study followed people after skin cancer surgery. Participants treated one end of their wound with vitamin E plus emollient cream, and the other end with emollient cream alone. Wounds were treated twice daily for four weeks.

Study results revealed:

• 33% of the participants developed contact dermatitis – redness and irritation at the site where vitamin E was used.
• 12 weeks after treatment, the area treated with vitamin E was no better or worse in 90% of cases.

Due to the lack of benefit and high rate of side effects, we don’t recommend using vitamin E on healing wounds. Instead, we recommend the following measures to speed wound healing and reduce the risk of scarring:

• Silicone/hypochlorous acid gel.
• Low level light therapy.
• A balanced diet containing high levels of vitamin C and fish oil.
• No smoking.

Scars can be reduced using:

• Fractional laser.
• Microneedling.
• Steroid and/or fluorouracil injections.

References

Baumann L, Spencer J, 1999. The effects of topical vitamin E on the cosmetic appearance of scars. Dermatol Surg 1999 Apr;25(4):311-5.