Guide: Pregnancy-approved skincare, expert tips about what skincare products to use for pregnancy related skin concerns
Introduction: Pregnancy approved skincare for dealing with common concerns like acne, melasma and more
Going beyond the generic advice of Say No to ‘Harsh’ Chemicals and
How to treat pregnancy related acne
How to prevent and treat pregnancy related pigmentation
Conclusion: Be Gentle and a little patient
1. Introduction:
Pregnancy is a wild ride of emotions, hormones, and lots of physical changes. While some women may experience the best skin of their lives, many are forced to deal with new or worsening skin concerns like acne, pigmentation and melasma, excess oiliness and more. To make things worse, many of your normal skincare products and active ingredients are not recommended or prohibited. If you have read our previous blog on using Bakuchiol in pregnancy, then you know why we don’t recommend using Bakuchiol in pregnancy. What do we recommend then for treating these challenging skincare conditions that are fuelled by pregnancy hormones? In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the dos and don'ts of pregnancy related skincare, providing you with a roadmap to maintain if not radiant and healthy skin at least managed skin throughout your pregnancy.
Guide: what skincare products can I use when I’m pregnant?
2. Going beyond the generic advice of Say No to ‘Harsh’ Chemicals and
Let’s face it, you’ve probably heard to avoid ‘harsh chemicals’ but what does that mean and is it really true. When it comes to skincare, it’s not necessarily whether something is ‘harsh’ that is the issue. It’s whether we are likely to absorb it through our skin and have the chance for in-utero exposure to the developing fetus. If you have heard of the equally unhelpful statement, the ‘poison is in the dose’, in-utero exposure is the biggest exception to this slogan. The World Health report in their 2012 report on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals made the very important point that there are certain windows of vulnerability in life that mean Endocrine Disruptions Chemicals can have a more profound impact on our health. These windows include in-utero exposure, infant exposure and during adolescence, which makes sense intuitively as these are stages where the body in a state of hormonal upheaval. They are not just regulating hormones, they are creating an ecosystem for them.
To this end, we recommend avoiding the more obvious retinoids, salicylic acid, and benzoyl peroxide and even Bakuchiol or Vitamin A derivatives. We also recommend avoiding most ‘chemical’ UV filters like oxybenzone, avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene. Many regulatory bodies including the EU, Health Canada and the FDA have started to speak of pending restrictions on these ingredients, citing concerns for maternal health and more. We also strongly recommend looking at the inactive ingredients in your sunscreen formulas and avoiding any that contain butyloctyl salicylate and tridecyl salicylate as these are analogs of octisalate and all part of the salicylate family. The Australian TGA has recommended avoiding the use of these salicylates during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy but we would extend that prohibition to all of pregnancy.
We strongly recommend looking for mineral sunscreen options for pregnancy (and hopefully for all your life). It’s one of the founding reasons our company was created to create sunscreen that is safe enough for pregnant women to use and thus us all.
3. How to treat pregnancy related acne
There is actually no one type of acne, it has many forms and different pathologies to it. The acne you get when you are a teenager is different than so called ‘hormonal’ acne that women might get at different stages in their cycle versus rosaceous acne. It’s worthwhile seeing a dermatologist if you can to have your acne flare-up diagnosed because under normal circumstances, these would all be treated differently from one another. During pregnancy, your treatment options are limited though so here are some general things that you can try:
Gentle cleansing. Skin can get very oily during pregnancy so you might be presented with a completely new skin type from what you are used to. You might need to start cleansing both morning and night with a gentle cleanser (i.e. avoid ones with actives like salicylic acid). We also love thermal water (available in cans), you can keep a small can in your purse for on-the-go if you start sweating throughout the day. Spritz and let the skin fully dry to get the excess sweat from sitting on your skin and keeping it too moist. It also has beneficial anti-inflammatories.
Exfoliate: most people agree that you can use lactic acid in something like a leave-on product to help acne from flaring with dead skin build up. We also like glycolic acid, there is no reason why there would be a potential safety issue, at least not with any currently available data.
Use naturally derived anti-microbial/astringent type ingredients like turmeric. We use distilled turmeric oil in several of our products that provide great skin brightening but are also anti-microbial that can also be beneficial for acne.
Ask your dermatologist about a prescription for azelaic acid or look for a cosmetic product that contains it. Azelaic acid does not have any current contraindications for pregnancy and is used in prescription topicals like Metrogel for rosacea and rosaceous acne.
4. How to prevent and treat pregnancy related pigmentation
Pigmentation and the skin condition known as melasma is one of the toughest skin conditions to treat in general and is very common with pregnancy. Changing hormones during this time make many women very prone to getting this condition. However, many pregnancy blogs and resources are wrong in stating that these conditions will resolve after pregnancy. In our experience in having started in a dermatologist’s office, many women suffer from having melasma for the rest of their life. It’s as though something get’s turned ‘on’ in the skin in terms of creating bands of pigmentation, and this switch never gets turned off again. It becomes a condition that you have to manage.
With this in mind, prevention is therefore really key. Using a tinted all-mineral sunscreen can be one great strategy, however it should have a strong UVA PF of 10 and higher. Our Cyberderm Simply Zinc Ultra SPF 50 is our best-selling option for this reason. As an alternative, using any sunscreen with 25% zinc oxide and a nice high UVA PF is protective in the Visible light range. You can incorporate the use of tinted iron oxides to boost your protection by looking for them in your make-up/complexion products and layering over top your sunscreen. You should also be diligent with your other sun protection tactics like wearing hats and sunglasses, seeking shade and more.
If you’ve already gotten pigmentation, then still keep using your sunscreen strategy as per above to prevent it from getting worse. You can incorporate the steps from the acne section in using lactic acid/glycolic acid a combining with ingredients like distilled turmeric oil. You can also look for ingredients like Indian gooseberry. We don’t ever recommend the use of hydroquinone for the treatment of pigmentation even for short periods of time. We also do not recommend the use of procedures using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) for melasma as this can exacerbate the condition. Make sure a physician properly diagnoses your melasma using a Woods light before you undertaken any kind of IPL treatment for your pigmentation.
5. Conclusion: Be Gentle and a little patient
There is a lot of bad and/or generic advice when it comes to pregnancy related skincare. A lot of things are happening to your body that may feel out of your control and your ability to treat them will be restricted. We recommend everyone invest in a good all mineral sunscreen (see our guide for buying a sunscreen on-line). Everyone should use one every single day but in pregnancy the stakes are a little higher. We’ve put together an entire category on our website for pregnancy related skincare to help provide some useful suggestions. Feel free to contact us with any questions, our customer service can help but we can also ask our resident OB/GYN on our panel of experts for their best advice as well. At The Sunscreen Company, we love to offer the best in continuing skincare and sunscreen education, so make sure to follow us on IG @thesunscreencompany.
As a thank you for reading our blog, we would like to offer you a special 10% discount on our entire category of Pregnancy-Safe Skincare products in our online store. Click the link below and use promo code: PREGSAFESKIN10 at checkout for your exclusive discount.
