Does zinc help with acne and healthier skin?

People with acne have, on average, lower zinc levels in the blood than people without acne. Whether that is a cause or a consequence is not certain, but it does provide a biological rationale for looking at zinc as a treatment.

Zinc works for acne. Both pills and ointments or creams containing zinc reduce the number of inflamed spots, as shown consistently across multiple studies, including a meta-analysis. The nuance matters, though: zinc performs less well than standard treatments such as benzoyl peroxide or antibiotics. For mild acne, or as a supplement to other treatment, it is nevertheless a realistic option.

With oral zinc supplements, some users experience gastrointestinal complaints, particularly nausea. That is the most frequently reported side effect. Applying zinc to the skin does not cause such complaints. For people who are pregnant and want to treat acne, oral zinc is cited in the medical literature as one of the relatively safe options, although that evidence is limited.

How well zinc performs compared with other treatments is difficult to establish firmly. The comparative studies that do exist are of moderate to low quality. Many studies are also small and methodologically limited. Larger, better-designed studies are still lacking.

Beyond acne, there is limited evidence that zinc also helps with hair loss, certain inflammatory skin conditions, and some skin infections. For those applications the evidence is thinner and larger studies are needed. An experimental formulation in which zinc oxide is coated with hyaluronic acid showed positive results in a small trial, but that product is far from available as a standard treatment.