Vitamin K2 For Skin: The Key to a Healthier, Younger Look?

Thanks to its powerful antioxidant properties, vitamin K might be the key to more youthful and radiant skin. It’s been shown to reduce visible signs of skin aging, combat dark circles, soothe inflammation, and accelerate wound healing. What more could you want?

All over the media, you’ll hear about the benefits of specific vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants for their nutrient-boosting, free-radical-fighting properties.

And when it comes to skincare and anti-aging, specifically, there are all sorts: vitamin C is one of the heavy hitters, but there’s also zinc, collagen, vitamin E, CoQ10, and the list goes on. Add them to your daily beauty routine, and they’ll back quite the punch.

Although it may not be the most popular nutrient in skincare products, vitamin K has been hailed for its ability to speed up wound healing—and it just might have other properties that make it a sure-fire vitamin for defending against skin aging.

So, how good is vitamin K for the skin? We’ll dig through the research, weighing in on everything you need to know about its skin-related benefits.

What Is Vitamin K?

Vitamin K is one of four fat-soluble nutrients—rather a group of fat-soluble compounds—that require the presence of dietary fat for absorption from food.

But because it dissolves in fats and oils, it is also stored in the body, meaning excessive amounts have the potential to become toxic.

We rarely hear much about vitamin K, apart from its involvement in blood clotting, but it’s an essential component of many proteins, including coagulation factors that regulate bleeding. It’s also involved in bone health, glucose regulation, vascular health, and more ¹.

But why is vitamin K so important? It’s required for the proper function of various proteins in the body, many of which are involved in bone health and blood clotting, such as coagulation factors (II, VII, IX, X and protein C, and protein S), osteocalcin (a bone-forming protein), and matrix-Gla protein (MGP) (an anti-calcification protein) ².

Whether in food or supplementation, there are two forms of vitamin K you’ll come across: vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin K2 (menaquinone, MK-4 to MK-10) ^{2, 3}.

Vitamin K1 is naturally found in plant foods like leafy green vegetables, cucumber, and olive oil.

In contrast, vitamin K2 is found in smaller amounts in only animal foods, such as organ meats, chicken, butter, cheese, and egg yolks, as well as certain fermented soy products.

But here’s the thing with vitamin K: it’s one of the few vitamins the body can produce. That said, intestinal bacteria can’t synthesize enough to meet the body’s demands, so most of our intake must come through diet or supplementation.

It doesn’t end there. If you haven’t thought about adding vitamin K to your list of skin-friendly nutrients, it’s time to do so. Next, we’ll cover the benefits of this super nutrient for skin health and where you can find it.

Vitamin K Skin Health Benefits

Vitamin K is known for its benefits on bone health and the vascular system, but recent studies suggest that it might also be the newest member of your beauty routine. Here’s why.

1. Protects against oxidative stress

Thanks to its powerful antioxidant properties, vitamin K is an essential nutrient for protecting the skin and preventing the harmful effects of free radicals.

Although it may be impossible to stop free radical exposure—they are produced as a natural byproduct of metabolism but also from exposure to environmental pollutants, smoking, UV rays, X-rays, and more ⁴—you can increase your body’s capacity to fight them.

Vitamin K does this by protecting directly against reactive oxygen species (ROS) uptake, limiting free radical intracellular accumulation, and inhibiting the activation of 12-lipoxygenase ⁵.

Besides protecting against oxidative damage, vitamin K may also regulate tissue renewal and cell growth via the vitamin-K-dependent growth-arrest specific gene 6 (Gas6) ⁶.

Receive unique insights, advice and exclusive offers.

Email address Subscribe

Because vitamin K supports healthy skin cell production, it can increase turnover and help readily replace dry, hard outer skin cells. As such, it could promote a softer, more radiant, and younger-looking complexion.

2. Reduces the visible signs of aging

Dark spots and wrinkles are a natural part of aging—but you don’t have to sit back and accept them (and you also don’t have to rely on Botox and other skin procedures to get rid of them).

Something as simple as increasing your vitamin K intake may be invaluable for keeping a fresh and youthful face.

Cutaneous aging results from environmental factors combined with a natural decline in the production and amount of collagen and elastin in the skin, both of which are important for maintaining the skin’s elasticity ⁷.

Aging also interferes with the production of proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycan, like hyaluronic acid and cartilage.

Over time the skin tissue weakens, compromising integrity, and the skin becomes dry because it cannot maintain moisture. And due to decreased collagen production, dermal thickness decreases and exacerbates skin wrinkling.

Luckily, one of vitamin K’s benefits is helping reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by protecting collagen. Some research shows that skin cells release matrix-GLA protein to prevent the calcification of elastin in the skin.

A 2007 study published in Lab Investigation looked at pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), a genetic disorder where premature aging occurs ⁸.

Results found that elastin becomes calcified due to a lack of vitamin K2-activated matrix-GLA protein. As such, increasing your intake of vitamin K2 could help maintain youthful skin by activating Matrix-GLA Protein and preventing the calcification of elastin.

Other studies support this notion, stating that low vitamin K levels impair Matrix Gla Protein (MGP) activation and result in an increased calcium content within elastin fibers, which causes elastin degradation ⁹.

And if you’re looking for a simple way to maintain a youthful complexion, try the Japanese’s secret of consuming seaweed.

It’s packed full of tiny molecules called fucoidans (along with vitamin K), which have been shown to enhance immune function and tissue regeneration, inhibit infectious diseases, and protect against cancer ¹⁰.

They can also combat metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease by modulating glucose and insulin, disrupting the formation of advanced glycation end products (these contribute to premature aging), and lowering triglyceride levels.

3. Reduces dark circles under the eyes

The raccoon-eye look is never something people strive for, and it turns out that you can do more than just use makeup to get rid of them. One of vitamin K’s skin benefits includes helping the skin dissipate bruising and discoloration.

The skin around the eyes is delicate and particularly vulnerable to damage and discoloration because it is extremely thin. Dark circles under the eyes can arise because of the fragility of blood vessels.

When they break, blood leaks into the surrounding skin and leads to discoloration. On top of that, other factors exacerbate this issue, like sleep deprivation, eye rubbing, puffiness, and genetic factors.

But vitamin K’s powerful anti-coagulant property, which regulates bleeding, could help strengthen blood vessels and prevent damage or breaking. As such, increasing vitamin K levels may be an effective way to combat dark circles from the root.

A 2015 study published in Advanced Biomedical Research looked at the efficacy of an eye counter pad containing caffeine and vitamin K for fighting wrinkles and dark circles ¹¹.

They found that the application of the pad significantly reduced dark circles under the eyes and improved wrinkles, and from a subjective point of view, improved the appearance and elasticity of the skin.

Vitamin K: The Ultimate Healer

Aside from helping you maintain radiant, youthful-looking skin, vitamin K also helps restore a healthy complexion because of its ability to address several issues, including bruising, wound healing, and inflammation.

1. Reduces severity of bruising

Bruising happens. Whether you bump into something or you have an injury, discoloration arises when the tiny blood vessels under the skin rupture and leak blood into the surrounding tissue. While not overly harmful, there are ways to accelerate the healing of bruises and reduce the purple color.

A 2002 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology looked at the effects of topical vitamin K versus placebo in the prevention and healing of laser-induced purpura (bruising) ¹².

Researchers found that although using vitamin K before laser treatment didn’t prevent bruising, use after did reduce the severity of bruising, particularly in the initial days of application.

2. Accelerates wound healing

Several nutrients are needed for wound healing, but studies show this is another area where vitamin K can be helpful. The skin is the most exposed part of the body and is highly susceptible to injury.

Still, thanks to the nutrient’s ability to reduce bruising and coordinate angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels) and vascular development, especially in the skin wound healing process, it could help to accelerate healing ¹³.

A 2014 rodent study looked at the healing effects of vitamin K1 creams on full-thickness wounds and found that topical application of vitamin K demonstrates significant wound healing abilities ¹⁴.

3. Soothes inflammation

If you’re struggling with red, painful, uneven complexion, it could be because of underlying inflammation in the skin—and thanks to vitamin K’s anti-inflammatory properties, it can help reduce discomfort associated with inflammatory skin problems like eczema and psoriasis.

Some research suggests this is due to its ability to suppress nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signal transduction and decrease the production of inflammatory markers ^{15, 16}. Some studies also show that oral vitamin K2 and vitamin D supplements can improve psoriasis ¹⁷.

Final Thoughts

The classical role of vitamin K might be in supporting bone health and blood clotting, but research shows that the benefits extend far beyond those.

If you’re looking for smooth, radiant, and youthful skin, it might be time to add more vitamin K to your diet or consider a vitamin K2 supplement.