Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Committee Chair

Trey Boyd

Abstract

Introduction: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer worldwide, caused by the accumulation of UV ray exposure that people are exposed to daily. The treatment options for skin cancer are costly and inconvenient, with a high chance of recurrence in different sun-exposed areas. Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, has shown promising outcomes in reducing the chance of recurrent in high-risk individuals. The purpose of this review is to examine recent literature on the effectiveness of nicotinamide supplementation in lowering the risk of skin cancer recurrence compared to individuals who do not take it.

Methods: A comprehensive PubMed search was conducted to identify clinical trials and reviews evaluating the efficacy of nicotinamide in reducing the recurrent of skin cancer in high-risk individuals. Four studied met the inclusion criteria and were selected for this paper.

Results: Two analyses and two randomized controlled trials favored a significant reduction in non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). One study concluded that the possible increased infection risk outweighed the effectiveness of the supplement in some patients’ decision-making process, while another study found that nicotinamide may be more beneficial on a histologic or genetic level rather than the reduction of active lesions.

Discussion: Across four studies, there was an overall significant reduction in NMSC recurrence with the use of oral nicotinamide. Further investigation is needed to determine the long-term side effects of nicotinamide and whether adjunct treatment may be the most effective management.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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