What skin changes happen during pregnancy

Pregnancy is that part of life when many changes happen on a woman’s body. Not only is she hosting a completely new organism that needs feeding in order to grow and develop, but her body changes and grows in accordance with the baby’s growth.

Many changes happen on the inside, and only a few are visible from the outside. Since the skin is the biggest organ in a human body, it is completely normal for it to change the most during pregnancy. These changes include itchy skin, spots or acne, stretch marks, pigmentation (i.ee. change in skin colour), and many women experience broken veins.

If you are interested in the aforementioned skin changes, keep reading and find out more about them.

• Irritated and itchy skin – Much of the female skin can become reddish and become irritated, sometimes even followed by rashes and red bumps. This condition, called pruritic utricarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP), usually occurs in the abdomen, and spreads to thighs, buttocks, and even breasts and arms of the mother to be. It can become really itchy, especially during the last trimester, and it can be controlled with topical medications, antihistamines and steroids which are applied to the irritated area in order to control the itching.
• Acne – Similarly to PMS, pregnancy is the time when hormones go wild in order to supply both the mother and the baby with the necessary food and oxygen. This is why many women experience having acne during pregnancy, even if they have not had them in adolescence. If you have used contraceptives before pregnancy (and now have to stop), so the body does not get enough hormones which regulate sebum and acne occur. They can erupt on face, chest and back. If they become really complicated, topical creams and antibiotics can help in getting rid of them, or they clear up on their own after pregnancy.
• Pigmentation – During pregnancy, some areas of a woman’s body can change colour. Changes in pigmentation occur usually on the forehead, cheeks, and upper lip due to excessive sun exposure. In order to prevent this condition, called chloasma or melasma, it is recommended that pregnant ladies use sunscreen as prevention measures. If the stains do not go away after delivery, you can try different treatments with bleaching effects and using chemical peels that remove the upper skin levels which became brownish in the first place.

• Stretch marks – Since your skin is fostering a completely new organism that grows very fast, it sometimes works double shifts and expands beyond its possibilities. This is why it supports itself by creating stretch marks, i.e. those lines which drive the majority of women crazy (but men do not seem to notice them). What you can do to help your skin and prevent their occurrence is to use Strataderm cream which helps the skin stretch naturally.
• Broken veins – Many women put up additional weight during pregnancy (not just the baby’s weight), which is why their feet suffer the most. Legs carry more weight than they were used to, which is why they become bloated and prevent normal blood flow. Spider veins usually develop during pregnancy, and they can be prevented only by resting and not walking too much.
• Hair and nails – During pregnancy, woman’s nails become soft and start splitting, while many women report losing hair (from their head). These changes also happen due to hormonal misbalance, and usually pass after three to six months after the baby is born.

Even though many changes happen on a woman’s body in general, skin problems are the least important ones because they pass really quickly. What is important, however, is that the mom and her baby are healthy after the delivery.