Vitamin C and vitamin E are all-star skin care ingredients you’re probably used to seeing on product labels, but have you heard of vitamin K? In this blog post, we’ll shine the spotlight on this lesser-known vitamin and answer all your questions about vitamin K skin care, including:

• What is vitamin K?

• What is vitamin K good for

• What does vitamin K do for skin?

• What are vitamin K benefits for hair?

• When should I avoid using vitamin K?

What is vitamin K?

Vitamin K is a nutrient that helps with functions in your body, including helping wounds heal, maintaining healthy bones and adequate blood clotting. It’s possible that you’re ingesting vitamin K on a daily basis when you take your multivitamin, or in foods that it’s naturally found in, such as leafy green veggies, blueberries, soybeans, meat, cheese and eggs.

What is vitamin K good for?

“Vitamin K is for skin recovery,” says board-certified dermatologist and LovelySkin CEO, Dr. Joel Schlessinger. “It can help reduce inflammation and help bruises and broken capillaries heal faster. In fact, the reason it’s called vitamin K is for ‘koagulation,’ the German word for coagulation or blood clotting.”

5 benefits of vitamin K for skin and hair

1. Post-procedural care

Do you have a laser treatment or cosmetic surgery coming up? Vitamin K cream could be a beneficial part of your post-procedure skin care regimen. Bruising is an expected side effect of pulsed dye laser treatments, facelifts and other facial surgeries. In fact, studies have shown that applying a vitamin K cream after laser treatment helped reduce the severity of bruising.

Try: LovelySkin Vitamin K Cream. “I recommend this vitamin K treatment quite often, with post-procedural care in mind for my patients,” says Dr. Schlessinger. “It’s gentle enough to use immediately after a surgical or laser procedure and it won’t irritate sensitive skin.” In addition to vitamin K to help reduce skin discoloration and bruising, it also contains lecithin and glycerin to help hydrate the skin.

2. Reduce inflammation

Another vitamin K benefit for skin is that it has anti-inflammatory properties, which means it could potentially improve inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. “Studies on vitamin K and its effect on psoriasis and eczema are limited, but I’ve seen patients who have had improvement in these conditions after using a vitamin K cream,” Dr. Schlessinger says. “It’s not a guarantee, but it could be worth a try to see if your skin benefits from it.”

Try: Revision Skincare Vitamin K Serum, which is designed to help soothe irritated skin with not one but two anti-inflammatory ingredients, vitamin K and arnica montana. It also features squalane to help moisturize dry, red skin and smooth rough patches.

3. Reduce dark eye circles

Vitamin K may help reduce dark under-eye circles when combined with other active ingredients. One study found improvement in dark circles from an eye cream that contained vitamin K, along with retinol, vitamin C and vitamin E.

Try: ISDIN K-Ox Eyes Dark Circles Minimizer Eye Contour Cream, a potent eye treatment that combines the power of vitamin K with vitamin C to target fine lines and hyaluronic acid for a temporary plumping effect. Another fantastic option is Biopelle Dark Circle Relief Cream, which matches vitamin K with light-diffusing mineral particles to help camouflage dark circles and help brighten the look of skin under your eyes.

4. Protect hair from free radical damage

Similar to vitamins C and E, research suggests that vitamin K has antioxidant properties, meaning it can offer some protection against free radicals. When used in a hair treatment, vitamin K could potentially guard your hair from daily environmental damage that can cause it to look dull and unhealthy.

Try: Surface Curls Serum, a styling treatment formulated to moisturize curly hair and smooth frizz. Vitamins K and E team up to provide twice the antioxidant power while fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) fortify damaged strands. If you have color-treated hair, you can rest assured that this product is sulfate-free and entirely color-safe.

5. Heal broken capillaries

If you suffer from red marks around your eyes due to broken capillaries, you’ll be interested to know that research suggests that vitamin K can improve broken capillaries. For this reason, you might find vitamin K combined with other moisturizing ingredients in treatments that target broken blood vessels on the face.

Try: Naturopathica Vitamin K Brightening Eye Complex, a targeted treatment specifically for the eye area. In addition to vitamin K to help mend broken capillaries and ease inflammation, this brightening eye cream also contains horse chestnut flower extract to help reduce puffiness and niacinamide to help moisturize the delicate skin around your eyes.

When should I avoid using vitamin K?

Vitamin K skin care is not for everyone. “If you are at risk of blood clots or take a blood thinner medication, you should consult your doctor before considering using vitamin K skin care products,” says Dr. Schlessinger. “Coumadin is a common blood thinner that has serious interactions with vitamin K, so it’s not recommended that you use them at the same time.”

If redness is one of your skin concerns, we can help! You can check out the best products to reduce redness on your face and more on the LovelySkin Blog.