Do Topical Vitamins and Minerals Help Fight the Itch of AD?

The use of oral micronutrients may play a role in reducing atopic dermatitis (AD) symptoms, but what about the topical versions?

A recent review examined the current evidence on the benefits of using topical vitamins A, B, C, D, and E, and the minerals magnesium, manganese, zinc and iodine. The review found that the use of topical vitamin C, B, and E appear to have beneficial effects on the way patients score their AD symptoms (also known as SCORAD). There was also evidence that these three vitamins improve barrier function, and decrease serum and skin inflammatory mediators.

Vitamin A and D did not fare as well; use of vitamin A wasn’t as effective as steroids and in fact may cause increased irritation in patients who already have a degraded skin barrier. Similarly, there seemed to be detrimental effects to using topical vitamin D on AD skin. The authors note that this is an important finding because there are formulations on the market that combine vitamins A and D and use of these products may exacerbate AD symptoms.

The review found that trace minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and iodine, appear to improve AD through anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects, but no reviewed study evaluated their use as a monotherapy thus no conclusions can be drawn about their efficacy when used alone.

The authors conclude that topical micronutrients show promise as a means to develop effective non-prescription therapies and future studies should explore their beneficial effects on AD Symptoms.