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Can the wound healing process be improved by vitamin supplementation? Experimental study on humans
Unlabelled:
The improvement of the wound healing process in humans by vitamin supplements is still controversial because of the lack of a clearly demonstrated correlation with the mechanical properties of scars.
Objective:
The aim of this work was to study the effects of high doses of ascorbic acid (AA) and pantothenic acid (PA) on the wound healing process of human skin.
Method:
Two groups of patients undergoing surgery for tattoo removal by the successive resection procedure received AA (1 or 3 g/day) and PA (0.2 or 0.9 g/day). More than 80 mechanical, biological and histological parameters were investigated in both preoperated skin and the scars.
Results:
The breaking energy of scars was higher in group 2, and energy and treatment were directly correlated (p = 0.006). Mg and Mn significantly rose in group 2 whereas Fe decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Intragroup comparison showed patient and treatment effects for Mg, a time.treatment effect for Cu and a treatment effect for Fe.
Conclusion:
The degree and rapidity of variations rather than the variations of the absolute values themselves of fibroblasts, hydroxyproline, Fe, Cu and Mg are significantly related to the enhancement of the mechanical properties of scars. From this study, it may be assumed that in order to obtain 'better', more solid and resistant scars, the decrease of Fe must be quick and acute in order to avoid the harmful effects of toxic radicals; the increase of Cu, Mg and Mn must be early and high in order to have more stable and solid collagen.