Patients are always asking what they can do to reduce their risk of getting skin cancer. Most know about sunscreens and sun-protective clothing. But there is more that one can do and it is as safe as taking a vitamin.
For several years now, I have recommended niacinamide 500mg twice a day by mouth (it is a pill) to reduce the risk of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and actinic keratosis, especially for my high risk patients. This has been proven to be effective. In fact it reduces the risk of getting basal cell carcinoma by up top 30% and squamous cell by up to 22%. That is pretty significant! Well, what does this tablet do?
Niacinamide is a precursor to NAD+. In short, after it gets absorbed by the gut into the bloodstream, it gets converted to NAD+.
So, do I need to have IV NAD+?
The short answer is, probably not. When you take niacinamide by mouth (a pill), it gets converted to NAD+. This pill has been proven to be effective. There are no great studies showing that the IV NAD+ is more or even equally as effective as the over-the-counter pills.
So, why are infusion centers recommending this?
The simple answer is, revenue stream. They make money on this and this is something that is being talked about so it is an easy sell. It may work. It may not. It may be more beneficial than the pills alone. It may not be any more beneficial than the pills. It may be completely ineffective and do nothing at all.
In short, until further studies are available, I do not recommend this treatment. There may be no or little downside, other than cost as it is not covered by insurance, to having this treatment, but it is very possible that there is little to no added benefit except maybe for those who are not able to take the niacinamide pills.