Effect of Vitamin D Deficiency on Hypertrophic Scarring.
Dermatol Surg. 2018 Sep 10. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000001680. [Epub ahead of print]
Ince B1, Uyar I, Dadaci M2.
1 All authors are affiliated with the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Meram Faculty of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
2 All authors are affiliated with the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Meram Faculty of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey.
- Raised skin scars (keloid) have fewer Vitamin D Receptors – Aug 2017
- Skin and oral wounds treated via Vitamin D Receptor and Calcium (book chapter) – Feb 2018
- Stretch marks (after pregnancy) prevented and treated by Vitamin D
- Topical Vitamin D
- Burned skin produces only about 25 percent as much vitamin D – March 2012
- Suspect that scarred skin also produces less vitamin D, so topical supplementation could be useful
Comments by founder of VitaminDWiki
- It is unfortunate that the abstract does not state how much vitamin D was given nor how much benefit resulted
- As of Sept 2018 the PDF is not available at Sci-Hub
- Probably the sooner the Vitamin D levels are raised, the less the scarring
- Based on many other dermatology studies, topical vitamin D or UV on the scar would probably help
- Probably > 40 ng would produce significantly less scarring than > 25 ng (as in this study)
BACKGROUND:
Although many different diseases have been reported with vitamin D deficiency, the authors failed to find any studies on the association of hypertrophic scarring (HS) in the literature.
OBJECTIVE:
The authors aimed to determine the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and HS and investigate the effect of replacement therapy on HS development in patients with vitamin D deficiency.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
Patients who presented to the authors' outpatient clinic with HS between 2013 and 2016 were included in the study. In the first stage, all the patients with HS complaints were assessed for vitamin D levels. In the second stage, 50 patients with a vitamin D level less than 25 ng/mL and a linear scar after at least 1 year of trauma were randomly divided into 3 groups.
- Group 1: patients who did not accept any medical or surgical treatment;
- Group 2: patients who were subjected to vitamin D replacement only;
- Group 3: patients who underwent surgical excision and suturation after vitamin D replacement.
RESULTS:
A statistically significant correlation was found between HS and vitamin D levels (p < .05).
A statistically significant decrease in scar width was observed in Group 3 (p < .05).
CONCLUSION:
Increasing vitamin D levels to above 25 ng/mL before scar revision and vitamin D deficiency in patients with HS may help reduce scar width.