Apparent Hyperpigmented Skin Blemish That Has Been Incidentally Treated with Oral Krill Oil: A Case Report

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Volume 4 | Issue 1 | 1 of 3
J Med - Clin Res & Rev; 2020
Apparent Hyperpigmented Skin Blemish That Has Been Incidentally
Treated with Oral Krill Oil: A Case Report
1Şenay Kocakoğlu: Harran University Medical Faculty Department
of Family Medicine, Şanlıurfa, Turkey.
2Ersin Akpınar: Çukurova University Medical Faculty Department
of Family Medicine, Adana, Turkey.
*Correspondence:
Ersin AKPINAR, MD, Professor of Family Medicine, Çukurova
University Family Medicine Department, Balcali, Saricam –
01330 Adana / Turkey, Tel: +90322 – 338 6060 / (Ext:3087);
+90322 – 344 3501 (Outpatient Clinics); Fax: +90322- 338
6023.
Received: 02 January 2020; Accepted: 17 January 2020
Şenay Koçakoğlu1* and Ersin Akpınar2
Journal of Medical - Clinical Research & Reviews
ISSN 2639-944XCase Report
Citation: Şenay Koçakoğlu, Ersin Akpınar. Apparent Hyperpigmented Skin Blemish That Has Been Incidentally Treated with Oral
Krill Oil: A Case Report. J Med - Clin Res & Rev. 2020; 4(1): 1-3.
ABSTRACT
Background: Krill oil is considered to be remarkable with its balanced content and its high bioavailability. There
are various studies on dierent uses and benets of krill. Astaxantin, one of the content of krill, was researched for
cosmetic benets like skin wrinkles and age spots. There are no sucient number of studies on oral krill oil use
for hyperpigmentation of the skin.
Case presentation: In this case report we present a patient who had an apparent hyperpigmented blemish on
his face and his skin appearance returned to normal after oral krill oil usage. We aimed to draw attention to the
probable cosmetic benets of krill oil on skin hyperpigmentation disorders.
Conclusion: Skin blemish on the face is a cosmetic problem that negatively aects human psychology. The
presented case preoccupies that oral krill oil can be used as an eective and non-invasive alternative treatment
way for hyperpigmented areas of the skin and performing further studies on this subject may be benecial.
Keywords
Krill oil, Hyperpigmentation, Bioavailability, Astaxanthin.
Background
Krill is a form of marine crustaceans that are quite small in size.
Natural habitat of krill is known to be Antarctic Ocean. Krill is a
remarkable natural food with its content and high bioavailability
[1,2]. American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called krill
as "Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)" so krill oil can be
safely preferred as a natural food source [3].
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
which are omega 3 poly unsaturated long chain essential fatty
acids (Ω-3 PUFAs) exist in the krill [4]. These fatty acids have an
important role in human metabolism and prevention and treatment
of chronic diseases, so new sources of Ω- 3 and therefore krill are
noteworthy [5]. Astaxantin, which is one of the contents of krill
is reported to be benecial for improving hyperpigmentation [6].
Case Presentation
A 47 years old male patient admitted to our family medicine clinic
for his routine periodic controls. His physical examination and
blood test values were normal.
A review of the patient's previous recorded data showed an
apparent hyperpigmented skin blemish warning on his face until
birth. Surprisingly, this blemish was observed to disappear. When
he was questioned whether he had any treatment, it was learned
that he did not use any medication or other treatment methods, but
he had only used oral krill oil capsules 1500 mg/day. He said that
after learning about the potential benets of krill oil he decided to
use krill oil and used it during 9 months regularly.
The image of the hyperpigmented area on his face before he started
using the krill oil capsules is given in Figüre 1. The image of his
face after using krill oil is given in Figure 2.

Volume 4 | Issue 1 | 2 of 3J Med - Clin Res & Rev; 2020
Figure 1 Figure 2
Discussion
Diets with high amount of lipids are related with negatif aects on
cardiovasculary system. Krill as a source of Ω- 3 PUFA’s can be
preferred for its lower content of lipid to sh [3].
Some authors report that although bioavilability of krill sourced
EPA and DHA is claimed to be better, it is not as high as claimed.
The study on this issue by Ulven et al. showed that there is no
signicant dierence between sh and krill oil. However Maki et
al. achieved important results in favor of krill. Von Schacky also
showed in his study that bioavailability of krill-derived EPA is
superior to sh [7-9].
While sh contains only triglycerides, there are both phospholipids
and triglycerides in the content of krill. A large proportion of EPA
and DHA are attached to phospholipids in the krill and the rate of
absorption of fatty acids into the circulation and the bioavailability
of Ω-3 PUFAs are quite higher in this form [2].
The krill oil diet was shown to be benecial for lowering cholesterol
components and have positive aect on vasculary damage. Lipase
plays an important role in triglyceride metabolism. Fish products
that are in triglyceride form contain high amounts of EPA and
DHA. Their absorption requires lipase activity [8,10].
Studies performed with mice with phospholipase A2 (pPLA2)
deciency showed that PL metabolism was not aected by using
krill but that of triglycerides were aected. Krill looks superior
than sh which contains triglycerides in this respect [11].
Sampalis et al. reported that krill oil is better for improving
symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea than sh
[12].
Antioxidants have protective aect for cells by neutralizing free
radicals. Antioxidant capacity of krill oil is remarkable as a source
of astaxsantin and vitamins such vitamin A and vitamin E. It is
widely believed that astaxantin makes krill superior to sh with its
more potent antioxidant capacity by improving brain inammation
and cognitive function, cardiovasculary disease, diabetes mellitus,
and skin wrinkles and pigmentation [4,13]. Facial pigmentations
are one of the most important cosmetic problems. Age eect,
prolonged exposure to sun, cosmetic use, some drugs and diseases
can lead occurance of hyperpigmentation. There are dierent
forms of facial pigmentation such as melasma, poikiloderma and
melanosis [14]. Since improving of hyperpigmentation disorders
are known to be a dicult and long lasting process, there’s an
interest for new and eective treatment methods. A single-blind
placebo-controlled study designed with the addition of 4 mg
astaxanthin daily to the diet for six weeks showed remarkable
results. Participant’s skin exibility, wrinkles, ne lines and
moisture status were markedly improved [6,15].
Conclusion
Hyperpigmented blemished skin is a cosmetic problem that
negatively aects human psychology. Treatment with oral krill oil
seems to be an eective, safe, non invasive and easily applicable
alternative treatment strategy for apparent hyperpigmented
blemishes of the skin. Performing further studies on this subject
may be benecial.
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