Pregnancy is an unbelievable time of great change in a woman’s body. While you are busy building the miracle of life inside you, you will surely experience some unpleasant effects on your skin i.e. “Pregnancy glow” is nothing but the physiological change in the skin that causes the pregnant woman shine and radiant due to the increased content of blood volume which makes you ‘brighten or blushed’ and production of HCG hormones which causes facial oil glands to produce more oil making the skin more ‘sparkling’.
However, these factors have downside too.Here are certain changes you too may experience on your skin while carrying your baby bump 9 months long:
- Unwanted acne: Some women may notice more breakouts than they did as a teenager. It’s the same androgenic hormone that supports the growing baby leads to this unwanted acne. Your first trimester will decide whether you are lucky enough or not to face such problem.
If you are planning for any acne medication, then it’s better to consult dermatologist and discuss your pregnancy skin care routine. You can go for safe home remedies to avoid extra oil on your skin by applying home-made paste on your skin like multani soil.
- Blotches, PUPP rashes and spider veins: Cute! Huh! While some moms-to-be are dealing with acne, others are dealing with sensitive skin. Blotches are patches on skin occur to discoloration of skin. They develop unpleasant kind of skin eruption known as PUPP rashes. These are itchy bumps that might be uncomfortable to you but not dangerous for you and your baby. It appears on arms, buttocks and abdomen and thankfully do not spread to the face. It mostly appears after second trimester and disappears after baby birth.
You can use Use aloe vera gel after your shower and wear soft cotton clothes. Take an oatmeal and baking soda bath.
Increased hormones combined with a dramatic increase in blood volume can cause the tiny blue veins called spider veins in your legs to branch out and become more visible especially near your legs. You may have little or no discomfort from them, but yes if you are standing all day long you may feel pain.
- Melasma (Pregnancy mask): Its common for a pregnant woman to develop hyper pigmented or brown patchy areas of darkened skin commonly called the mask of pregnancy. These blotches can show up around your upper lip, nose, cheekbone, forehead, sometimes in the shape of mask. Women with darker condition are more prone to this condition. Up to 70 % women face this problem during pregnancy. However, these blotches fade away 3 to 6 months after delivery.
To prevent this condition, go for the tried and tested solution i.e. wearing of zinc oxide/titanium dioxide sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or greater. Also avoid sun exposure.
- Thick body hair: Thicker hair on your head is amazing but it’s not that good when it comes to your body. The healthy diet and the hormones which make your head hair grow with lust is sometimes also responsible for hair near your abdomen, face and back. Although they will shed soon after delivery but for the time being you can go for a safe wax and shave but do not go for bleach as it can cause harm to the foetus inside you.
- Stretch Marks: You will hardly find any mom who is not worried about her stretch marks. Stretch marks in it are self-explanatory. Many new moms develops these marks due to hormonal changes and physical stretching of skin due to weight gain which makes fibre tear and leaves you with red scar. Genetics plays an important role in how well your skin will stretch without tearing, so just makes a call to your mom and confirm. It can be best dealt by applying good body lotions and massaging with light hand on your area where you see light pink and purple lines.
The real part of you developing inside your womb brings lot many changes in your skin. A majority of these are just temporary and will soon fades away. Just remember that motherhood looks just superb on you. :)
This blog was originally posted on Indian Moms Community