B5 Treatment for Acne
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free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:37 pm

An esthetician told me that B5 really helps prevent and stop acne. She said that people with acne suffer from low levels of Coenzyme A. Coenzyme A if produced in the body. Low levels of Coenzyme A cause acne: excess oil and clogged pores. Supplementing with a high amount of B5 (especially because you excrete it out) helps to actually shrink the pores and reduce the oil. The skin becomes fine and less oily. You are to take 20 500 mg of B5 every day for 2 months, then you take 10 500 mg B5, then you maintain every day with 5 500 mg. I am on the maintaining route of 5 a day as I started the program in mid-March.

I can't really say if I see results or not. I do believe it raises your metabolism (especially if you take it late at night).

You divide the doses (except the 5 500 mg pill part) between morning and night.

Please let us know if any of y'all have tried this and if it worked!

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 6:14 am

Skitahoe,

I tried this well over a year ago for approx. 3-4 mos. and for me personally I feel it was a waste of time and money. I saw absolutely no results. I know some people are claiming wonderful results with the B5, but for me it didn't work. Plus, I'm not sure what the long term side effects would be staying on such high doses.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:27 am

I did this about 5-6 years ago and it did work. I did lots of research before deciding on trying it. IMO 5,000mg a day is not enough, you need higher doses when you first start out. Usually 10,000 is recommended but for me I found that 8,000 worked well. I also had major purging when I started. I forget the exact protocol but I think I did 8,000 for 3 or 4 months and then slowly started cutting down on the amount. Eventually I ended up with 2,000 a day for maintenance. Again, please keep in mind this is what worked for me and I encourage you to do lots of research.

If you are going to use this I would get powder. It taste horrible but its alot easier then taking so many pills. I mixed it with a small amount of orange juice which helps cut the taste. There are a few companies that sell powder promoting it for acne, if you google I'm sure some will come up. I forget the name of the company that I bought mine from.

This really did work for me. I really believe the key is higher doses when you start out and then slowly cutting back till you find the right dose.

Anyway, I got lazy and stopped a while ago and of course I have acne again. I had actually forgotten about B5, I think I will look into it again.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:22 pm

I did 8,000 for one month, then took a break for another month. 5,000 is not enough.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:10 pm

I know some people take B complex and zinc as acne supplements, and I hear a lot of positive feedback. I myself tried these days, one month, I think. I feel less oily till now.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:30 pm

I did some reading on this as well. My skin was so oily this summer I couldn't deal with it. I read that combining the B5 with L-Carnitine allowed you to you smaller doses of the B5 because of the synergy between the two. I've been taking just under 1000 mg of B5 combined with about 800 mg of Acetyl L-Carnitine, broken into two doses. I think it's really helped the overall oiliness of my skin & I'm having fewer breakouts.

Just my experience. Those wanting to try this may want to do some research on combining it with L-Carnitine.

free skin care · Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:12 am

I’ve just learned that some adult acne sufferers on acne.org take 500mg of no-flush niacin (vitamin B3) a day to prevent and stop acne. Some of them report on great success with this dose.
You can find the reports in the adult acne section of the acne.org forum.

Remember that taking one of the B vitamins in isolated form, whether it be B3, B5 or B6, over a longer period of time can create a deficiency of the other B vitamins in your system. So always take a vitamin B complex supplement together with the isolated form of the vitamin B you are taking.

free skin care · Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:28 am

Hey Jimm, yes it is pantothenic acid (B5) that can cause a deficiency....I wrote a post on taking this to shrink pores, but it went with no responses since last I checked.

Also on acne.com some people were mentioning megadosing b vitamins can go right through a good period (when you're deficient) and right out the other side if the dose isn't dropped, spiraling the skin back into poor health due to an excess. Scary Confused

I'm definitely going to try b5 soon and see what it does for my pores. I seem to remember reading this is the only thing that can actually SHRINK pores other than accutane ...maybe someone can clarify.

free skin care · Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:31 pm

I'm another one that tried this with little to no results. Sorry

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