Increased Vitamin A Level is associated with Clinical Improvement in Mild Acne Vulgaris: A Pre-test and Post-test Clinical Trial

Abstract

AV is a global cutaneous disorder that although is benign, can significantly affect the patient’s quality of life. The pathognomonic feature of the disease is the emergence of comedones. There are four known pathophysiology of AV, increased sebum production, ductal cornification, colonization of the bacteria P. acnesin the pilosebaceous unit, and inflammation. Furthermore, Vitamin A although already a well-established acne treatment that can affect all four of these factors, here are still limited data regarding the quantitative measurement of vitamin A itself in acne vulgaris cases. This study seeks to review the association between vitamin A levels measured quantitatively using ELISA with the outcome of inflamed lesions and comedones prior and after treatment with Tretinoin 0.025% in patients with mild AV. Our studies found that increased level of vitamin A is associated with significant clinical improvements in both inflamed and non-inflamed AV lesions.