**This is a reprint of an article I originally wrote for Yahoo. If you find this article anywhere else online, it has been stolen from me and reprinted without my permission by people who are usually trying to convince you to buy something.
That is not my intent here, as I am not trying to sell you anything. My intent is simply to talk about my experience curing acne with Pantothenic Acid, and maybe help you a little bit on your journey towards clearing yours.
From the age of 12 onwards, I was plagued with terrible acne. By the time I was 32, after 20 years of suffering, I still had severe breakouts on my face, arms, back and chest. I had spent thousands of dollars on visits to the dermatologist, numerous acne creams – both over the counter and prescription – and antibiotics and other medications. All with no good result.
My skin was still awful, it was embarrassing to wear short sleeved shirts or clothes that showed my neck and chest, and forget about swimming. In a million years, I would never have gone out in public in a swim suit as my skin was so ugly.
Then one day I was browsing the Internet and decided to do a search for ‘Acne Treatments’.
I read the usual stuff about antibiotics, Accutane, herbal remedies and various over the counter ointments and creams. “Been there, done that, tried that, doesn’t work”, I thought.
I clicked to the next page and my eyes fell upon a study that had been done in Singapore with a group of people of Chinese descent who had acne.
The participants were male, aged from 10 to 30 years old. The study talked about how Dr. Lit-Hung Leung (the doctor responsible for the study) had given the participants 10 grams of Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5) every day in 4 divided doses. They were also given a cream to use which contained 20% Pantothenic Acid.
Within a few weeks, almost every participant in the study had reduced their acne significantly or cured it altogether. They also noticed an enormous difference in oil production (sebum) on their skin, and had much smaller pores.
After reading the article, I looked online and discovered that Pantothenic Acid is a water-soluble vitamin. What this means is you can take just about as much as you want without any overdose problems as, whatever your body doesn’t use is simply eliminated in your urine.
Obviously, from everything I read online, there was no danger in trying the large doses of the vitamin. So, I tried it.
Results of treating my acne with Panthothenic Acid (Vitamin B5)
I started off by taking 10 grams (twenty 500mg pills) every day. I split the dosage up so I was taking the pills three times a day — 7, 7 and 6 pills.
Within 3 days of beginning the treatment, I began to notice my pores were smaller. The amount of oil my skin was producing was also less.
As you could normally run a small car off the amount of oil my skin produced daily, this in itself was a huge development.
Then, within a week, new acne stopped appearing all over my body and old acne began to heal.
One month later, I had completely clear skin. Clear skin on my face, my chest, my arms and my back.
After over 20 years of severe acne, you can only imagine how this made me feel. For the first time, I could wear sleeveless blouses, low necks and swimsuits.
Taking Panthothenic Acid for acne for a decade
I continued to take the Pantothenic Acid for more than 10 years without experiencing any side effects.
After about 6 months of staying with the 10 grams a day, I gradually decreased it down to 4 grams (8 x 500mg pills) and that’s what I continued to take daily as a maintenance dose to maintain my clear skin.
I took that dose of Vitamin B5 every day for 10 years. I only stopped taking it after the two pharmacies in Bangkok that I used to buy Vitamin B5 from were suddenly out of stock.
By that point, however, it seems my acne had healed itself completely as it never came back. Even though I no longer take the Vitamin B5.
During the first few years I took Panthothenic Acid for my acne, however, I did notice if I forgot to take the pills for a few days, acne would begin to reappear.
Going right back to taking the pills got rid of the acne quickly.
A quick tip too – when I was in the US, I ordered my Pantothenic Acid tablets from several websites, as I found it was much cheaper to buy from those sources than from a drug store. Especially if you buy several bottles at one time as they often then give free shipping.
You can buy it on many websites, though, including Amazon, so just order it from the cheapest one you find.
Here in Thailand, I picked it up at a local drug store for less than 100 baht a bottle.
In the last 15 years, I have recommended this treatment to numerous friends with acne and only one ever said it did not work for him.
However, as he kept forgetting to take the tablets every day, I would not be surprised if this was why he didn’t see the results everyone else saw.
The most recent friend I recommended Pantothenic Acid to just reported back that her skin is already clear after only 5 weeks of treatment. She is ecstatic.
After years of struggling with terrible acne, acne which made my life so difficult, I would recommend anyone to try this simple treatment.
It is easy to do, not expensive (less than $25-$40 a month if you order from one of the many online sources that sell the vitamin), isn’t harmful, and really works!
You can get more information about Dr. Leung’s study by reading his published paper about Pantothenic Acid and acne here.
There are also hundreds of other sources on the Internet mentioning the effects of Pantothenic Acid on acne.
While, just like any acne treatment, high doses of Pantothenic Acid do not work for everyone, it does seem to work for many.
In other words, why not do some research then decide for yourself? Is it worth the chance that it may work for you?
I believe it is, and sincerely hope you will have the same superb results I have had.