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Anthralin

Also indexed as: Anthraderm, Anthraforte, Anthranol, Anthrascalp, Dithranol, Drithocreme, Micanol Cream, Psorin Ointment

Illustration

Anthralin is a drug applied only to affected skin areas to treat psoriasis.

Summary of Interactions with Vitamins, Herbs, and Foods
In some cases, a herb or supplement may appear in more than one category, which may seem contradictory. For clarification, read the full article for details about the summarized interactions.

Beneficial May Be Beneficial: Side effect reduction/prevention—Taking these supplements may help reduce the likelihood and/or severity of a potential side effect caused by the medication.

Vitamin E (topical)
Depletion or interference

None known
Supportive interaction

None known
Reduced drug absorption/bioavailability

None known
Adverse interaction

None known

An asterisk (*) next to an item in the summary indicates that the interaction is supported only by weak, fragmentary, and/or contradictory scientific evidence.

Interactions with Dietary Supplements

Vitamin E
Anthralin can cause inflammation of the skin. A preliminary study found that topical use of vitamin E was able to protect against this side effect.1 This report used a tocopherol form of the vitamin rather than tocopheryl. This makes sense, as there is no conclusive proof that the tocopheryl forms (which require an enzyme to split vitamin E from the fatty acid to which it is attached) have any activity on the skin.

References

1. Finnen MJ, Lawrence CM, Shuster S. Inhibition of dithranol inflammation by free-radical scavengers. Lancet 1984;ii:1129–30.