Vitamin K helps bruised skin heal and improves skin’s appearance overall

Vitamin K’s popularity is exploding lately as both a key supplement and as an ingredient in topical skin care. It’s nice that phytonadione (known as vitamin K because the German word for coagulation is koagulation) is gaining more notoriety. Reviva has been a long-time supporter of this ingredient for healthy skin care, especially when it comes to helping heal bruised skin. Our Vitamin K Creme has been a long-time favorite among natural product consumers.

What is Vitamin K?

Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin that has many important roles within the body as it plays a part in the various stages of wound healing via blood clotting (coagulation), skin growth (epithelization), and supporting collagen formation (collegenation). It also has a part in calcification and mineralization (bone health) – which is a growing area of study alongside calcium and vitamin D supplementation. Moreover, it also shows strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

When applied topically, Vitamin K has demonstrated the ability to improve wound healing, reduce scarring (from wounds), and also improve the appearance of bruised skin and lessen the time for the bruise to disappear. It has also been shown to help reduce skin inflammation from chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Clinical studies have also reviewed Vitamin K’s ability to improve the infraorbital (under eye) dark circles.

Vitamin K’s wound healing was studied by treating high-frequency electrocautery wounds with a 1% Vitamin K cream against a control without Vitamin K. Significantly more healing was observed in only 14 days in the Vitamin K patients. Other studies have shown similar benefits and it’s why many doctors recommend Vitamin K creams post surgery to aid in wound healing – even though the exact mechanisms of how Vitamin K helps isn’t completely understood yet.

Anecdotally, “I have witnessed the benefits of our Vitamin K Creme first hand, not only on myself, as it heals bruises more quickly. But also on my father, post heart surgery and then again after his hernia surgery. On follow-up appointments the doctors were impressed and fellow patients were envious at his decreased bruising.”
Bill Levins, Reviva’s President

Natural Sources of Vitamin K

The good news is, most diets are full of Vitamin K. Vitamin K sources include vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, vegetable oils, and some fruits. Even meat, dairy foods, and eggs offer some – although less – Vitamin K. Most multi-vitamins include Vitamin K, as do some meal replacement drinks, and some foods (cereals) are fortified with it. And our gut bacteria can also produce Vitamin K. So, dietary deficiencies are rare.

Topical application of Vitamin K

As mentioned above, the research reveals that Vitamin K plays a role in wound healing and helps to minimize broken capillaries under the skin. Its ability to also boost collagen, along with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, make it an obvious choice for use in skin care – specifically bruise creams or eye creams. The fact that Vitamin K is fat soluble is also beneficial, helping it to penetrate the lipid barrier of the stratum corneum.

Reviva’s Vitamin K Creme has been a top seller for dozens of years. Savvy shoppers know that it helps alleviate bruises and long ago makeup artists realized it can help eliminate under dark circles too. And while Reviva sells it primarily as a bruise cream, there’s no reason it can’t be used under the eye. Most of Reviva’s skin care can be used on the face and body interchangeably. In fact, an article in Well + Good, suggested that all woman over the age of 50 should add Vitamin K to their skin care routine to help the under eye area. We don’t disagree.

So, if you’re dealing with bruises, or want to boost wound healing (provided it’s not an open wound and your medical professional gives you the green light) or if you simply want to improve your under eye dark circles – by all means, add Reviva’s Vitamin K Creme to your daily regimen.

Edit: If the recent TikTok trending posts by @livin.lav.loca or @simplybysimone reveal anything – the secret is out that our Vitamin K Creme can help with under eye dark circles. Of course, for stubborn under eye circles that are droopy and puffy too, we also make our Under Eye Dark Circle Serum that features DMAE, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Hyaluronic Acid, N-Hydroxysuccinamide, Chrysin, Caffeine, Niacinamide, and Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate – so it brightens, firms, “de-puffs”, helps to “flush” away blood-related under-eye darkness and pigmentation.