When you are pregnant you can get bad acne as discussed in the last post. You no longer have all of the options of all the usual acne treatments that work. Some are restricted for acne treatment during pregnancy. First step for your acne treatment pregnancy is to remember to do the basics such as wash your face twice a face. Wash with warm water, a mild soap and a soft cloth morning and night. If your acne is still bad you will need something else to reduce the inflammation or kill the P acne cells.
Where you need to be careful is that anything taken orally (or applied topically to your skin) may not only affect you but may affect your baby as well. A natural acne home treatment is always better for pregnant women but we will chat about your options for medical acne treatments first.
The main medical treatment you can use is Benzoyl Peroxide. This is an over the counter topical lotion. It comes sometimes on a pad with which you can wipe your face. This is safe for pregnant women. It might dry out your skin so you can use a moisturiser too if required. It might cause your acne to get worse at first but should reduce your acne in a few weeks if you keep using it. Be sure to check the moisturiser you will be using is safe too.
Not all Medical Acne Treatments can be used by pregnant women.
Another popular acne medicine that other people use is accutane. Accutane should not be used by pregnant women at all as it can cause birth defects in around 30% of cases. Also if you are trying to conceive then you should also not use it.
Salicylic acid also causes births defects when taken orally. Salicylic acid can also be taken topically. It has not been proved to cause birth defects when taken topically. But if the salicylic acid enters the bloodstream then there will be a small risk to your baby. Also who knows what they will prove in the future so it really is not worth the risk.
Retinols (or also known as Isotretinoin and Retin-A) should be avoided. They can cause birth defects or genetic damage. Generally Doctors recommend against using it during pregnancy.
Remember if you are breast feeding your baby or planning to then you should also avoid all these medications too. The baby will get what you take which isn’t good.
The best acne treatment pregnancy is using totally natural acne lotions. These would be totally safe. Drink plenty of water if you can.
Diet may not be option for pregnant women. Dairy is normally pushed as a cause of acne but you need your daily calcium intake. You may also have cravings for food which go against what is good for acne.
But if you must insist in taking a medicated acne treatment then Benzoyl Peroxide applied topically is the only one recommended at the moment for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Also take the advice of your doctor. In the next post we will look at more acne treatments that work.