Skin toxicity hypervitaminosis

TOXICITY (Hypervitaminosis A). Excessive intake of preformed vitamin A, called hypervitaminosis A, may cause serious injury to health. However, massive intakes of carotene are not harmful because they are not converted to vitamin A rapidly enough to cause toxicity. The excess carotene will merely produce a yellow coloration of the skin, which disappears when the intake is reduced. 

Evident only with toxicity leucopenia, aplastic anemia, papilledema, increased intracranial pressure, hypervitaminosis A (loss of hair and peeling skin)... 

If the rate of uptake of retinol from the intestine consistently exceeds the capacity of the liver to dispose of it, significant amounts of retinol, mainly in the form of retinyl palmitate, appear in the general circulation and may give rise to toxic effects. The effects of hypervitaminosis A are many and varied. They include increased intracranial pressure, severe headache, hyperirritability, vomiting, diarrhoea, bone decalcification and skin lesions. The condition can be fatal. It has in the past been caused by over-zealous administration of concentrated sources of the vitamin such as halibut liver oil. This may contain several hundred times as much vitamin A and 40 times as much vitamin D as cod liver oil. It has also occurred in people who have eaten polar bear or husky dog liver which contain massive amounts of vitamin A. 

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