Vitamin E

Vitamin E helps scars heal

Vitamin E has become a popular remedy to apply to cuts, scrapes, and even surgical wounds to help scars heal. Some people believe it will take your scar away or get rid of those ugly stretch marks. Many health professionals, including doctors, nurses, and medical students, recommend vitamin E to their patients to improve the look of their scars.

In the lab, vitamin E has been found to have an antioxidant effect, but there is no good scientific evidence that vitamin E actually does anything to improve how a wound heals. At first glance, the evidence looks promising. In one study of eighty patients with very large scars, or keloids, putting a silicone sheet that contained vitamin E overnight on the scar seemed to improve the appearance of scars more than using silicone sheets that did not have vitamin E.

Unfortunately, other studies have not found similarly good effects when using vitamin E. In a study of patients who had skin cancers removed, each patient was given two ointments to put on either end of the wound. One ointment was a pure moisturizer called Aquaphor, and the other was Aquaphor mixed with vitamin E. Neither the patients nor the physicians knew which ointment was being put where on the scar. Neither patients, physicians, nor an independent reviewer could see any benefit from the vitamin E ointment at one, four, or twelve weeks after the surgery. For 90 percent of the patients, the patients, physicians, and reviewers thought the vitamin E–treated area of the scar looked the same or even worse. A third of patients also developed a contact dermatitis, which is an itchy rash, from the vitamin E. Another group of researchers studied 159 patients who had surgery to remove contractures, or tightening of the skin, that was produced after having been burned. After these patients had surgery, they were randomized to either put a vitamin E ointment on the wound, a steroid ointment, or a plain moisturizer. Neither the vitamin E nor the steroid made any difference in the thickness or size of the scar or the overall cosmetic appearance. The results from these studies suggest that the limited evidence in favor of vitamin E is questionable. In two careful studies, the researchers could not find a healing effect from vitamin E, and it even caused rashes or side effects in some patients. We have said this before about other treatments, but if something does not work and seems to have a good chance of making a problem worse or giving you another side effect, it makes sense to stay away from that “treatment.”

Vitamin E does not seem to be a good answer for scar-healing, but you might actually think about onions. Really. An extract from onions has been shown in randomized trials to improve the texture and redness of scars in patients, as well as to have good effects on the cells involved with scar formation in the laboratory. Gels such as Mederma contain this onion extract. More research into what might work to really help wound-healing or to get rid of our scars or stretch marks would be very welcome.