Vitamin E is often an ingredient in skin care creams and lotions, and for good reason. It is a powerful antioxidant that is very good for your skin, especially helping to prevent aging and damage to skin cells caused by the sun.

Free radicals create an oxidant effect, damaging collagen and drying skin. They also cause fine lines and wrinkles. When pollution and environmental problems affect the skin negatively, like the sun’s UV rays, the body produces free radicals, or atoms with an uneven number of electrons. When these free radicals come from within the body, they end up stealing electrons from your healthy cells, causing the damage, including wrinkles, to your skin. One of the best antioxidants for the skin, along side vitamins A and C, vitamin E fights these free radicals, neutralizing them and keeping your healthy skin cells undamaged.

Vitamin E is also very powerful fighting against the sun’s UV damaging rays. Although it is not a sunscreen, it minimizes the damage done by the sun and counteracts it. It causes a reduction of erythema, sunburn cells, chronic damage due to UV-B rays, and photo-carcinogenesis (formation of skin cancer cells). Although you should always wear some form of sunscreen, having creams or lotions with vitamin E and vitamin C will provide a very strong protection from the damage caused by the sun.

Topical vitamin E is often found in oil form, so it also moisturizes your skin, adding the oil necessary for smooth, supple skin. It also prevents water loss, helping the skin to retain its natural moisture. However, some caution should be used if you are using pure vitamin E oil, especially if you are prone to breakouts. It can be very heavy and thick oil, so use it at night in place of a moisturizer.

Vitamin E is also anti-inflammatory, which can decrease redness and puffiness, keeping your skin looking great. Furthermore, it enhances the ability for other important compounds to be absorbed by the skin, making it a great ingredient for skin care creams. Although there is yet no scientific research to back this up, many people have also found using vitamin E oil directly on the skin improves the look of scars. Vitamin E does help the skin heal. The body needs vitamin E for collagen production, so having it will help the skin to heal and become firm and healthy. Additionally, vitamin E improves the look of your hair and nails, and can be used on chapped lips.

Vitamin E provides a powerful antioxidant effect for your skin, but your body does not produce it. Therefore, you need to get it from elsewhere. You can get it through your food, especially nuts and oils, including walnuts, almonds, olive oil and sunflower oil. It is fat soluble, meaning it needs fat in order to get the full benefits and properly digest it. You can supplement as well, in fact studies have shown that long term supplementation of vitamin E reduces sunburns even from UVB radiation. However, it is easy to get the same skin boosting benefits from applying vitamin E topically.

You can find vitamin E as an oil, or you can find it as an ingredient in many face creams. There are eight chemical forms of vitamin E, and tocopherol is the only one that suffices for human needs. Some good options for skin products with vitamin E include SkinMedica Vitamin C+E, which will provide a great antioxidant rich protection from the sun, as does PCA Skin C with Vitamin E. For just vitamin E, try Eminence Tomato Seed Vitamin E Oil. For products that include vitamin E as an ingredient, try Glytone Antioxidant Anti-Aging Serum, NeoStrata Renewal Cream, and Murad Essential-C Night Moisture.