Calendula Oil vs Vitamin E Oil for Scars: What Works Better?

People usually ask us to pick a winner between calendula oil and vitamin E oil for a scar. The published evidence does not crown either one, and the scar product with the strongest trial record is neither of them. What you should use depends mostly on how old the scar is, so this walks through a scar by its stage, from the day of surgery onward.

Calendula oil bottle

Calendula Oil

Our own small-batch calendula oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $13.99

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Week one: this is a wound, not a scar yet

Whatever is on the skin in the first days is a question for whoever closed the wound. A surgeon, nurse or physician decides what touches stitches, glue or an open edge, and we do not suggest putting any oil, ours included, on an open or stitched wound unless that person says so. The EU herbal committee lists calendula flower preparations only as a traditional-use product for minor skin inflammation and minor wounds (EMA/HMPC, 2018), tells people to see a practitioner if symptoms last beyond a week, and rests that listing on long-standing use rather than on trials. A surgical incision is not a minor wound in that sense.

The wound-healing literature points the same way. A 2008 systematic review (Leach) found six randomised trials of topical calendula on wounds, only one of good quality, and called the support weak. A 2019 review of 14 studies (Givol et al.), seven of them in animals, found faster early repair in animal work and one human trial, and mixed results elsewhere. Almost all of this concerned extracts and ointments, not infused oils, so applying it to our oil would be an inference.

Weeks two to six: a closed scar, and what vitamin E actually did in trials

This is the stage at which the "vitamin E for scars" habit usually starts, so it is worth looking at what was measured. In a double-blind study of 15 patients after skin cancer surgery, the scar was split into two halves, one dressed with a plain emollient and the other with the same emollient plus vitamin E. Baumann and Spencer (Dermatol Surg, 1999) reported no cosmetic benefit, a worse look in some cases, and contact dermatitis in 33% of the patients. It is a small study, and the allergy rate is the part that should give anyone pause. A 1986 trial of 159 grafting procedures (Jenkins et al.) likewise found no benefit from topical vitamin E, with adverse reactions in 16.4% of the active-drug patients against 5.9% on base cream alone; that trial pooled vitamin E and a steroid cream in the adverse-reaction figure.

A 2011 trial of 5% topical tocotrienol (a related form of the vitamin) in 122 patients found no significant difference from placebo (Khoo et al.). Tocotrienol is not the same compound as the tocopherol in most bottled vitamin E oil, so we cite it only to show that a good randomised design has not rescued the idea.

One detail matters for our own product. We add no tocopherol, no stabilisers and no preservatives to our oil; it is calendula extract brought into a carrier oil, and nothing else. So our oil is not a vitamin E product and should not be treated as one. If you decide to layer a vitamin E product anyway, that is your call, but the trials above are the reason we would not encourage it.

What calendula has, and the limits of it

The closest human study to your situation is a 2025 split-ear trial of 35 patients after cleft earlobe repair. A 10% calendula ointment went on one ear and petroleum jelly on the other. Scores on the Stony Brook Scar Evaluation Scale did not differ on days 1 or 7 and differed on day 15 (Kunjir et al., 2025), but the abstract does not say in which direction or by how much, and day 15 is far too early to say anything about a final scar. A 2023 review of three studies of wound and scar products containing essential oils found one combined St John's wort and calendula oil product with a smaller wound-perimeter area than control, with the authors noting a paucity of studies (Wang et al., 2023). Neither study isolates an infused oil as we make it.

Reasoning from those two papers, the honest summary is that we found no trial showing calendula oil changes how a scar matures, and none showing that it does not. We make an oil. The questions we can answer from experience are about the flower, the drying, the infusion and the batch paperwork; for what it does to a scar, we point you to the literature and to a dermatologist.

What has better evidence than either oil

A 2020 systematic review of 34 trials of over-the-counter scar products (silicone gel, onion extract, vitamin E, trolamine, microporous tape) reported that numerous high-quality randomised trials found silicone gel sheets and gels significantly improved scar outcomes (Tran et al., Dermatol Surg, 2020), while only a limited number of studies supported the others, vitamin E included. A separate 2015 review of 39 articles on topicals and dressings found most were of limited quality and concluded there is an unmet need for effective solutions to skin scarring (Sidgwick et al.). If scar appearance is the goal, a conversation with your surgeon about silicone is a better use of the first month than choosing between two oils.

If you still want an oil on a closed scar

Some people want a daily massage ritual on a healed scar regardless of the trial record, and that is a reasonable personal choice as long as the expectations are honest. A few ground rules follow from the sources above and from what we know about the flower.

For how an oil like this fits an acne-prone or sensitive face, see the comedogenicity article, and for a post-surgical or pregnancy context read the pregnancy and postpartum guide first.

When a scar needs a professional, not a product

A scar that is raised, growing past the original line, painful, or itching intensely belongs with a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. The 2015 review above describes hypertrophic and keloid scars as problem scarring, a different matter from a fine, flat line. No oil, ours included, is a substitute for that visit.

If you take one thing from this, let it be that the vitamin E habit is weaker than its reputation and calendula oil is unproven rather than disproven. We would sooner you chose on that basis than on a head-to-head that the evidence cannot settle.

Calendula oil bottle

Calendula Oil

Nature's Golden Botanical, bottled: small-batch calendula oil in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $13.99

Shop Calendula Oil →

Sources & Further Reading