Biotin is Necessary for Healthy Skin

Biotin is an essential nutrient that helps skin stay healthy, and may help skin heal faster.⁴⁷ Insufficient amounts of biotin can cause a number of skin conditions, including:

• Conjunctivitis⁴⁹
• Eczema²⁶
• Ichthyosis (with non-malignant disease)⁵⁰
• Leiner's disease⁵¹

Research indicates that this may be due to biotin's role in the synthesis of fatty acids. Biotin is necessary for activating acetyl Co-A carboxylase, an enzyme that assembles the building blocks for fat production. Dysfunctional metabolism of fatty acids linked to insufficient biotin appears to be a primary cause of skin problems.^{18, 52}

Fats are needed for maintaining cell function throughout the body. Skin cells are especially dependent on fat production in the body because being exposed to outer environments. They die quickly and therefore must be replaced at a steady rate. Frequently the earliest symptoms of biotin deficiency appear in the skin.⁵²

Biotin supplementation, in doses of 1-10 mg/day has been shown to heal most rashes within weeks, even in severe cases of seborrheic dermatitis. Breast-fed infants with seborrheic dermatitis improved dramatically when their malnourished mothers were given biotin injections, and in other cases when the infants themselves were supplemented with biotin. However, this data is inconclusive since biotin was found to be ineffective in a double-blind clinical trial, suggesting that biotin deficiency may not always be the cause of seborrheic dermatitis in infants.^18, 53

It may be a good idea to take manganese with biotin for best results. Experts suggest that manganese indirectly supports biotin in its healing effects for certain skin conditions (e.g., psoriasis and acne). Biotin needs certain enzymes to function in the skin that manganese helps to activate.⁵⁴