Vitamin D: The Unexpected Key to Healing Wounds
Story at-a-glance
- Keloids are an extreme overreaction of the body’s wound healing process, causing thick, raised scars that continue to grow beyond the original injury, leading to pain, itching, and discomfort
- A study published in Burns & Trauma journal found that keloid cells overproduce CYP24A1, an enzyme that rapidly breaks down vitamin D, preventing it from regulating scar formation and inflammation
- Researchers discovered that inhibiting CYP24A1 allowed vitamin D to remain active longer, reducing excessive collagen buildup and helping keloid tissue behave more like normal skin
- Even individuals with sufficient vitamin D levels in their bloodstream could still have a functional deficiency in their skin due to rapid breakdown by CYP24A1, which explains why standard supplementation has not been effective for keloid treatment
- Another recent study found that vitamin D supplementation significantly improved wound healing, increasing skin hydration while reducing trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), which strengthened the skin barrier and sped up recovery
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