While it’s certainly not the first thing on your mind when you discover you’re having a baby, acne during pregnancy can be a concern for many women. After all, who doesn’t want to look and feel her absolute best during this special time? The desire for clear skin and a radiant complexion doesn’t go away in the 40 weeks building up to delivery.
Still, just as pregnancy acne has its own specific set of triggers and causes, it has a unique set of solutions, too. Above all is the overriding concern for safety. When treating acne during pregnancy, ensuring the health of both mama and baby is crucial.
Ideal Jumping-Off Point: A Consultation With Your Viva Eve Clinician
There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment for acne, and that’s especially true during pregnancy. A consultation with your board-certified Viva Eve Skincare Specialist, preferably at the start of gestation or even earlier, can yield a pregnancy acne protocol that’s easy, effective – and most important – safe.
Experts in creating highly individualized, comprehensive and simple skincare treatment plans, including for acne during pregnancy, our Skincare Specialists can help you achieve a glowing, blemish-free complexion. Your consultation will include discussion of the following topics:
- Best skincare practices while trying to conceive
- Pregnancy-safe skincare products
- Pregnancy breakouts and pregnancy-safe prescription medications
- Pregnancy-safe in-office treatments, like therapeutic facials and extractions
But the best part of working with a Viva Eve Skincare Specialist to help address your pregnancy acne? Knowing that they work in tandem with an entire team of experts dedicated to your 360-degree wellness. In addition to our Skincare Specialists, Viva Eve brings together a full array of highly trained physicians and providers, including Gynecologists, Plastic Surgeons and Registered Dieticians. Knowing your Skincare Specialist can tap their colleagues’ knowledge at any time can seriously boost your peace of mind.
Why You’re Breaking Out So Much (& How To Deal With It)
Like so many skin upsets, acne during pregnancy is driven largely by hormones, specifically progesterone. This particular hormone, which helps your uterus prepare for delivery, is well-known for stimulating your glands to produce more oil. This in turn can cause pore blockage, triggering breakouts. A highly common occurrence – it’s been estimated that up to 40 percent of women suffer from pregnancy acne – it can nonetheless be frustrating.
The good news: a touchy, problematic complexion may not last for your entire pregnancy. In fact, there’s a good chance that you’ll only experience acne in early pregnancy. The first trimester is a period of intense hormone production, spiking the sebum production that can lead to breakouts.
It’s also super encouraging to know that during your first three months and beyond, there’s a lot you can do on your own to help manage pregnancy acne. Here, a handful of ways to literally take breakout-management into your own hands:
- Stick to non-comedogenic, preferably oil-free, products: Time for a medicine cabinet and makeup bag clean-out! Go through your stash and eliminate (or at least put aside for now) moisturizers, makeup and anything else that lists oil as a key ingredient.
- Get diligent about gentle facial cleansing: Twice a day, thoroughly cleanse acne-prone areas with a non-irritating cleanser. But remember to go easy; pregnancy is a time to skip abrasive exfoliants and avoid scrubbing too hard, both of which can trigger more breakouts.
- Resist the urge to “self–treat” blemishes: It’s never a good idea to pop or squeeze pimples, but during pregnancy, when your skin may be extra-sensitive, it’s especially risky. Acne scarring, a common outcome of blemish-tampering, is the last thing you want right now.
- Opt for squeaky-clean hair: Even if you don’t typically shampoo your hair every day, consider doing so while pregnant. This will ensure you rid your locks of dirt, oil and styling product buildup, all of which can go a long way in helping you avoid breakouts around the hairline.
More About Anti-Acne Medications
First, some good news: According to the Mayo Clinic, although most ingredients in OTC topical acne treatments have not been studied in pregnancy, since only a small amount is absorbed into the skin, they’re unlikely to put a developing baby at risk.
For that reason, during your consultation with your Viva Eve Skincare Specialist, you may very well be given the go-ahead to use products with such famous acne-fighting ingredients as erythromycin, clindamycin, benzoyl peroxide and salicylic and azelaic acids. Even the highly effective topical retinoids, another ingredient class often used to treat acne, may be deemed safe for use during pregnancy.
However, some of the more powerful acne-blockers have been known to cause miscarriage and birth defects and are obviously to be avoided at all costs. These include the generic medications isotretinoin, tazarotene, spironolactone and tretinoin, which are marketed under a number of brand names.
To navigate all this medication info, as well as to land on the ideal product regimen, be sure to work with your Viva Eve Skincare Specialist. Together, you can ensure great skin and a safe, healthy and happy pregnancy.
