“Niacinamide improves skin tone and fine lines.”
Niacinamide creams can modestly even out skin tone and soften fine lines, based mainly on small trials of 5% products.
A niacinamide product is a gentle, optional way to get a small improvement in uneven tone or fine lines. You do not need it in every step of your routine.
If you try it, pick one product with about 5% niacinamide and give it about three months before judging it.
Safety note: Topical niacinamide is usually well tolerated, but any formulation can irritate or trigger contact dermatitis. Very high percentages are not proven to work better and may increase stinging or redness.
Talk to a healthcare professional if: you have acne, rosacea or eczema that is not improving, a severe skin reaction, or a dark spot that changes in shape, color or feel.
A 12-week randomized split-face trial in 50 women found modest improvements in fine lines, dark spots, redness and yellowing with 5% niacinamide. Confidence is limited because the trial was small, included only white women and was industry-linked, and the acne evidence is low quality.
Niacinamide creams can modestly even out skin tone and soften fine lines, based mainly on small trials of 5% products. More is not necessarily better, and results depend on the formula.
Niacinamide is a supportive skincare ingredient, not a treatment for inflammatory acne, rosacea, eczema or a changing dark spot. A Cochrane-based review found no niacinamide studies reporting the main overall acne outcome.
- Bissett DL, Oblong JE, Berge CA. Niacinamide: a B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance. Dermatologic Surgery. 2005;31(7 Pt 2):860-865. doi:10.1111/j.1524-4725.2005.31732. PMID:16029679
- Liu H, Yu H, Xia J, et al. Evidence-based topical treatments (azelaic acid, salicylic acid, nicotinamide, sulfur, zinc, and fruit acid) for acne: an abridged version of a Cochrane systematic review. Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine. 2020;13(4):275-283. doi:10.1111/jebm.12411. PMID:33034949