Vitamin B5 And Acne
Vitamin B5 And Acne
One of the most controversial topics in acne treatment is the relationship between vitamin B5 and acne. In 1995, Dr. Lit-Hung Leung did a research that attempted to treat acne patients using vitamin B5. His hypothesis was that if the body lacks pantothenic acid, more androgens would be produced and fatty acids would be released via oil glands, resulting in an outbreak of acne. Dr. Leung’s experiment involved 100 subjects, where 55 were females and 45 were males. Each was given around 10-20 grams of vitamin B5 daily, 20% of which was applied through a topical cream whereas the remaining 80% was consumed orally. It was noticed that the patients started to get rid of acne soon and serious cases took up to six months to cure.
The only problem is that Dr. Leung’s is the only research that seeks to find the association between vitamin B5 and acne; other researchers haven’t done any follow-up studies to confirm or deny the outcome presented by Dr. Leung. This is the primary reason dermatologists and doctors usually remain silent about vitamin b5 as they fear such a high dose (10 gms) may have the potential to bring some side effects with itself, though none have been found so far.
People who have tried this treatment for themselves have noted several things, which can be found on message boards and forums online. First off, it is not necessary that you start with 10 grams from the first day. To be safe, you can start with 5 grams per day initially. And it would be even better if you take 2.5 gms during the day and the remaining 2.5 grams at night. Starting this way would let your body get used to the extra consumption of vitamin B5 gradually.
Keep it like this for 3-7 days in the beginning. Then, move up to the 10 grams per day but break it up into 4 doses. You may take 2.5 grams after every 6 hours but try to keep it as consistent as possible. That’s the main thing when you want your body to get used to something. Hopefully, you would start seeing results after the first or second week. In the most serious cases, it may take around 3 months to see the effects. Also remember when you start taking it that acne is being formed inside your skin at that time. So if you see some new pimples break out during your first week, don’t attribute it to vitamin b5 consumption. That would probably still have happened even if you hadn’t started this treatment.
Once your skin gets clear of acne, you can reduce the consumption gradually but don’t stop taking it completely. You can come down to the initial 5 grams per day. If you start developing acne again after this reduction in dose, go back to 10 grams per day without any delay. Afterwards, try to adjust to a dose which is enough to keep acne away from you. Furthermore, take other vitamins too to ensure you don’t get any other deficiencies during this treatment.
By: Adam Ali
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You can visit our site for more information on vitamins for acne. Also check out our detailed Acne Guide for information on other vitamins. The advice in this article should not be regarded as medical prescription.
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