Targeting Vitamin D Pathways Helps Treat Wounds and Keloids

• New perspectives in keloid treatment — A recent study published in the Burns & Trauma journal, conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati,³ found that an enzyme called CYP24A1, which is overactive in keloid cells, rapidly breaks down vitamin D before it can support wound healing. This means that even if someone has normal vitamin D levels, their skin might be unable to use it properly, allowing excessive scarring to continue unchecked.

• Inhibiting this key enzyme could help restore vitamin D’s beneficial effects — This will help reduce excessive scar formation and improve skin repair.⁴ According to an article in News-Medical.Net:

“Current treatments show limited efficacy due to an incomplete understanding of the molecular processes behind keloid formation, leaving patients with few reliable options. Addressing this gap, the study delves deeper into the molecular drivers of keloid pathology, identifying potential targets for more effective interventions.”⁵

• Keloid cells overexpress CYP24A — The research analyzed keloid-derived keratinocytes — cells responsible for skin regeneration — and compared them to normal skin cells. The results showed that keloid cells had significantly higher levels of CYP24A1, which rendered vitamin D ineffective in controlling inflammation and fibrosis.

• Blocking CYP24A1 restores vitamin D’s benefits — They then tested whether blocking CYP24A1 would allow vitamin D to remain active longer, making it more effective at regulating scar formation. When they inhibited this enzyme, the expression of genes linked to excessive scarring, such as periostin and hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2), was significantly reduced.⁶

• Blocking CYP24A1 normalizes collagen — Collagen is the protein that gives skin its structure, but in keloids, it accumulates in thick, disorganized bundles, creating raised, rigid scars. The researchers found that blocking CYP24A1 returned collagen production to a more balanced state, allowing keloid tissue to behave more like normal skin.⁷

• Quercetin may help — However, the research highlighted the fact that even individuals with sufficient vitamin D levels in their bloodstream could still have a functional deficiency in their skin.

Since keloid cells break down vitamin D so quickly, standard supplementation may not be enough to correct the problem. This explains why oral or topical vitamin D treatments have not been effective in treating keloids.⁸ In this case, taking a natural CYP24A1 inhibitor such as quercetin might do the trick.

• Blocking CYP24A1 reduces inflammation — Keloid scars are characterized by persistent inflammation, which drives continued growth even after the initial wound has healed. But when researchers blocked CYP24A1, levels of inflammatory cytokines — proteins that promote swelling and tissue damage — dropped. This suggests that vitamin D, when properly activated, could help calm chronic inflammation and stop keloid progression.⁹

• Vitamin D regulates fibroblasts — Fibroblasts are the cells responsible for producing collagen and other structural components of the skin. Normally, fibroblasts respond to injury by creating new tissue to close wounds. However, in keloid scars, these cells don’t receive the proper signals to stop, leading to excessive growth.

The study found that blocking CYP24A1 allowed vitamin D to suppress overactive fibroblasts, restoring a normal healing response. This means that instead of endlessly producing scar tissue, your skin is able to heal in a controlled, organized manner.¹⁰

• These findings highlight a new way to approach keloid treatment — Instead of simply trying to remove keloids surgically, an approach that often leads to recurrence, targeting the enzymes that interfere with skin healing could stop the problem at its root.

“[O]ur results suggest that vitamin D treatment and CYP24A1 inhibition should be further explored as potential treatments or therapeutic adjuncts for suppression of keloid development and growth,” the study authors concluded.¹¹

• Investigating the effects of vitamin D on chloasma — The study participants included 480 men and women between the ages of 18 and 65, all of whom had chloasma, a skin condition marked by irregular pigmentation. They were randomly assigned into two groups — one received topical and oral vitamin D3 (5,000 to 10,000 IU/day), while the other received a placebo.

• Vitamin D shows noteworthy benefits for skin health — The researchers measured changes in wound size and skin hydration levels. Over six months, the vitamin D group showed significant improvements in all these areas compared to the placebo group.¹³

• The most striking result was the speed of wound healing — By week 6, participants taking vitamin D experienced a 70.2% reduction in wound size, compared to just 30.8% in the placebo group. That’s more than double the rate of healing. Even by week 2, the vitamin D group had a 25.2% reduction in wound size, while the placebo group lagged behind at only 10.7%.¹⁴

• Vitamin D’s effects on skin hydration — Skin hydration levels also improved significantly in the vitamin D group. At the start of the study, both groups had similar hydration levels, averaging around 35 on the hydration scale. By week 6, those taking vitamin D had an average hydration score of 42.5, while the placebo group remained stagnant at 35.5.

Dehydrated skin is more prone to cracking, irritation, and slower recovery, making this finding particularly important for individuals struggling with chronic skin conditions.¹⁵

• The study also measured the participants’ trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) — This assesses how much water escapes from the skin’s surface. Having lower TEWL levels means better skin barrier function. The TEWL levels of the vitamin D group steady declined, dropping from 10.5 at baseline to 8.5 by week 6. In contrast, the placebo group’s levels showed no meaningful improvement, staying above 10 throughout the study.¹⁶

“Our study provided additional support for the expanding corpus of evidence that vitamin D plays the crucial role in skin health, particularly in treatment of chloasma and promotion of wound repair.

Although additional investigation is required to comprehensively comprehend and maximize its application in dermatology, vitamin D offers an auspicious pathway for forthcoming therapeutic interventions,” the researchers concluded.¹⁷

• Your skin problems could be linked to vitamin D — If you’ve been struggling with slow-healing wounds, persistent scars or even keloids, it’s time to look at the deeper issue — your body’s ability to use vitamin D effectively. If your body keeps breaking down vitamin D too quickly, as seen in keloid-prone skin, you won’t get the benefits — even if you’re taking a supplement.

• The key is to optimize how your body gets and processes vitamin D — I believe that getting natural sunlight daily is the best way to optimize your levels of this nutrient, however, you must make sure to do it at appropriate times and be aware of certain caveats.

• One important factor to consider is your diet — If you’ve been consuming a processed food diet loaded with vegetable oils, which are high in linoleic acid (LA), it makes you more prone to sunburn and skin damage. This is because when ultraviolet light hits your skin, it interacts with LA that triggers inflammatory responses and DNA damage.

• Mitigate this problem by purging LA from your body — In the meantime, avoid high-intensity midday sun exposure until you’ve been off seed oils for at least six months. Go outside in the early morning or late afternoon instead. If you haven’t fully eliminated LA from your diet but need to go out during midday, here are some protective measures for you to try:

• Remember this simple safety test when getting sun exposure — Watch your skin for the first sign of pinkness (this is an early warning of sunburn) and stop before your skin turns pink to prevent damage. This helps you determine your safe exposure time.