How Vitamin E Helps Skin

Introduction

Vitamin E performs many functions in the body and is an important vitamin for overall health, but it is also essential for good skin. This vitamin is helpful when used internally as a food source or supplement and topically as a cream or oil. Vitamin E offers many benefits to the skin, such as scar removal, acne treatment and sun protection. This fat-soluble vitamin is also an antioxidant that protects the skin cells. To maintain healthy looking skin, vitamin E is a required daily nutrient.

Vitamin E strengthens the immune system, which fights skin diseases like acne, warts, cold sores and psoriasis. Many acne sufferers claim that topical use of vitamin E oil accelerates the healing of acne lesions and even prevent breakouts. One study that appeared in the "Journal of Investigative Dermatology" offered proof that vitamin E helps in the prevention of acne blemishes. The vitamin also helps to keep the skin plump and full. It does this by protecting the fatty tissues from oxidizing. The third layer of the skin, the subcutaneous tissues, is made of many fat cells, which keep the skin looking plump. As a powerful antioxidant, vitamin E eliminates free radicals or toxins from the body. Free radicals cause oxidation in the body, which causes damage at the cellular level. According to the Healthy Skincare web site, "First of all, because of its antioxidant activity, vitamin E is vital in protecting skin cells from ultraviolet light, pollution, drugs, and other elements that produce cell damaging free radicals." Vitamin E also improves the absorption of vitamin A, which is necessary for healthy skin. Many drugs and skin care preparations contain vitamin A or retinol, a derivative of vitamin A, to improve the skin.

Vitamin E oil is often recommended for fading or eliminating scars. While many surgeons recommend applying vitamin E oil to surgical scars, there is little scientific evidence to support the belief. Scars are formed by the collagen in the skin and one plastic surgeon, Dr. Joel Studin, thinks that vitamin E helps with scarring "by reducing the strength of the three strands that form collagen, making them softer and more pliable. Technically, it reduces the strength of cross-linking of these strands." Vitamin E oil is also suggested a way to fade age spots or liver spots. These brown spots start to appear on the face and hands around age 50 and are caused by sun damage. When applied to the skin, vitamin E oil helps to reduce the signs of aging by making wrinkles less noticeable. Vitamin E lotions also protect the skin from the sun. The Healthy Skincare web site states, "These lotions protect the epidermis layer of the skin from early stages of ultraviolet light damage. Vitamin E preparations also increase the effectiveness of sunscreens."