I was wondering if taking 25mg. per day of DHEA would facilitate skin scar repair. I am taking a multi-vitamin, Salmon Oil, E, Calcium and C.
Should DHEA be incorporated into my daily vitamin intake? Any other suggestions would be appreciated for skin repair suppliments.
Rob

There are many claims that DHEA helps skin repair.

J Invest Dermatol. 2005 Nov;125(5):1053-62. Links
The sex steroid precursor DHEA accelerates cutaneous wound healing via the estrogen receptors.

Mills SJ, Ashworth JJ, Gilliver SC, Hardman MJ, Ashcroft GS.
Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, Manchester, UK.
Age-related impaired wound healing states lead to substantial morbidity and cost, with treatment in the USA resulting in an expenditure of over $9 billion per annum. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a ubiquitous adrenal hormone with immunomodulatory properties whose levels decline significantly with advanced age in humans. Conversion of DHEA locally to downstream steroid hormones leads to estrogenic and/or androgenic effects which may be important in age-related skin homeostasis, and which would avoid systemic adverse effects related to estrogen. We report that systemic DHEA levels are strongly associated with protection against chronic venous ulceration in humans. DHEA accelerated impaired healing in an impaired healing model (mice rendered hypogonadal) associated with increased matrix deposition and dampens the exaggerated inflammatory response. Such effects were mediated by local conversion of DHEA to estrogen, acting through the estrogen receptor, and vitro studies suggest a direct effect on specific pro-inflammatory cytokine production by macrophages via mitogen activated kinase (MAP) and phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI3) kinase pathways. In addition, we show that local injection of DHEA accelerates impaired healing in an ageing mouse colony. We suggest that exogenous application of DHEA accelerates impaired wound repair, results which may be applicable to the prophylaxis and treatment of human impaired wound healing states.

I've read that DHEA can cause acne by increasing the activity of the sebaceous glands. Is this true?

Thanks very much-

John

DHEA can increase acne by producing more testosterone (good) which can be converted into the DHT (bad) that is thought to increase acne.

But you can balance the DHEA problem by also taking 80 mgs daily of saw palmetto oil which blocks the conversion of testosterone into DHT.

DHEA drops by 90% as we age. So, unless you are age 40 or more, you should have enough DHEA in your body.

Dr. Pickart-- How much DHEA per day do you recommend?

It usually comes in 25 mg tablets. That should be enough if you are young.

I take 50 mg a day but that is because my cholesterol is so low. Cholesterol is converted into DHEA and then the sexual and metabolic hormones.

Thanks, Dr. Pickart, for the quick reply.