Results of Treatment of Acne Vulgaris by Intramuscular Injections of Vitamin A

The use of oral vitamin A in acne management: a review

“…Side effects included injection site reactions such as pain, discomfort, and swelling. No side effects were noted in the group receiving oil vitamin A [15].…”

“…In the studies, it was noted vitamin A was more efficacious for the treatment of facial lesions compared to truncal lesions, although truncal lesions improved, albeit more slowly. Vitamin A also appeared more efficacious in the treatment of papules, pustules, and milder forms of acne, than acne consisting of deeper, cystic nodules, but many of the study populations consisted of severe acne patients who also improved with vitamin A [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…In a prospective, placebo controlled clinical trial, 30 adolescents (males and females) with mild to severe acne were administered 100,000IU vitamin A intramuscularly (intragluteal), vitamin A in oil solution three times a week, or placebo for 2-5 months. All patients were photographed two days before starting treatment and one week after cessation of treatment [15]. Patients were categorized as better, worse, or the same, as assessed by photographs by the authors and two additional physicians.…”

Vitamin A in Acne Vulgaris

“…Most trials suffered from lack of proper control cases. The place of vitamin A in therapy therefore did not appear to us to be established on firm grounds, especially as further workers -Lynch and Cook (1947) and Mitchell and Butterworth (1951)-found their results disappointing. It seemed that with a long-term and fluctuating condition such as acne there was a good case for a double-blind therapeutic trial, using an objective method of assessment to judge results.…”

Oral Vitamin A for Acne Management: A Possible Substitute for Isotretinoin

“…Treatment doses ranged from 36,000 IU daily to 500,000 IU daily. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Forty-four percent of trials used 100,000 IU daily with success. Treatment lengths ranged from one month to seven months.…”