Vitamin E for Wound Healing

Research suggests that vitamin E's role in wound healing is promising in certain contexts but remains inconsistent across the broader evidence base. A 2021 systematic review of 36 studies found potential benefits of vitamin E supplementation for specific wound types, including burn wounds, diabetic ulcers, and notably hypertrophic scars, while a 2008 topical review reported that vitamin E applied directly to the skin may support wound healing through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms, and a 2020 animal study found topical vitamin E eye drops comparable in efficacy to other treatments for corneal wound healing. However, a 2016 evidence-based review of 33 studies concluded that high-quality evidence definitively establishing vitamin E's contribution to wound repair is lacking, and a 2024 narrative review characterized vitamin E's results as inconsistent compared to other nutrients like vitamins A and C; a Cochrane meta-analysis further found very low certainty evidence regarding nutritional supplements including vitamin E for diabetic foot ulcers specifically. Taken together, the available research — spanning systematic reviews, meta-analyses, animal studies, and narrative reviews — points to a nutrient with biologically plausible wound-healing mechanisms and some supportive findings in targeted applications, but one that has not yet been established through sufficiently rigorous clinical research to draw firm conclusions about its effectiveness across wound types generally.