Should you use Vitamin E
for Scars?
Vincent Platania
You'll find many people touting the
use of vitamin E on scar tissue these days. The honest truth is that vitamin E
doesn't appear to help heal scar tissue.
In a 1999 study following patients
after cancer surgery, doctors applied an ointment containing vitamin E to a
part of the scar tissue and applied an ointment without the vitamin to the
other half of the scar. The scar tissue healed at the same rate with both
ointments and on a negative side the vitamin E ointment gave some patients
contact dermatitis, which is red and itchy skin.
Scar tissue is actually skin tissue
with a lot of collagen fibers in it. When a wound is healing the collagen
served as a bridge connecting the skin. The oil helps to soften skin tissue and
makes it look better overall, if you don't have an allergic reaction to the
vitamin E. Unfortunately some people are genetically predisposed to getting
scar tissue when a wound heals, while others are not. It may be that those who claim
a benefit from applying the vitamin E are simply people who aren't genetically
disposed towards developing scar tissue.
Vitamin C is involved with the
creation of new skin tissue and this can help your wounds heal better.
