Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts

Dermatologists and Their Best Advice for Skincare While Pregnant

Nothing to Disclose

Dermatologists and Their Best Advice for Skincare While Pregnant

"They have to avoid salicylic acid and any retinoids.
It's very important to use a broad spectrum sunscreen to avoid melasma the mask of pregnancy."
Debra Jaliman, MD is a board certified dermatologist with a private practice in New York City.


"I always recommend that our pregnant patients check with their OB with regard to any product that they use. This is because everything you apply or come into contact with may affect not only you but your baby. During pregnancy it is always wise to avoid products that contain retinoids or salicylic acids."
Avery Kuflik, MD is a board certified dermatologist with a private practice in New Jersey.


"Pregnancy is a time when special care should be taken to keep the skin healthy. While most commonly used products are completely safe, there is handful of ingredients considered harmful to a growing baby. Some of those include Retinoids and Salicylic Acid."
James C. Marotta, MD is a double board certified ENT and Plastic Surgeon who practices in Long Island.


"Your skin care routine is likely to change when you are pregnant. Since hormones are changing during pregnancy, you can develop skin issues that you never had before. Some women tend to break out more and get oily skin when pregnant. You should start to use a mild cleanser and keep your skin moisturized so it will not get dried out.


"You should avoid any products with salicylic acid and retinoid when you are pregnant. High forms of salicylic acid has been known to cause birth defects, in small doses it can be okay but it is probably best to just avoid it while you are pregnant. Always check with your OB/GYN before starting any new products."
David E. Bank, MD from The Center for Dermatology in Mt. Kisco, NY


"Stick to the basics-a gentle cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen; stop all products with retinols, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, or hydroquinone unless directed by a doctor."
Rahat Azfar, MD of Vanguard Dermatology in New York City.


Check out more information on skincare in pregnancy:
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare

Nothing to Disclose
2

Basic Pregnancy Skincare: Safe Products Anyone Can Use

Product Sent for Review I Bought It Myself Affiliate Links

Basic Pregnancy Skincare via @15MinBeauty

Skincare during pregnancy isn't easy to get right. There are a lot of skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy. Chances are that great night cream that you've used for years, the one that gives you glowy skin? Yeah, you probably can't use that. Or the miracle gel that erases your pimples almost overnight. Your new anti-aging serum definitely has ingredients you need to avoid as well.

I've written about skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy in the past. And yes, you'll need to make a lot of them while pregnant!

My general philosophy when it comes to pregnancy safe skincare is that you need to pare down to pregnancy safe basics. A simple routine that can work throughout your pregnancy. Because your hormones are going to be shifting all over the place causing fun issues like pimples, hyperpigmentation and dryness. And sometimes all at once! So, basic products you can use the entire time, then swap in treatments for that month's fun skin issue as you need.

I put together a few routines below, as of the date that I'm writing this (October 9, 2014), the ingredient lists on either the company's website or my own product that I purchased, was pregnancy friendly and met my criteria for pregnancy safe skincare. I've given you a few options when I could in each product category, so you should be able to just pick and chose products that you know work well for you or have features that you like. Don't forget that there are more options over in my list of Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Items.


Update 1/23/2017: I have reviewed updated ingredients list and links. I've crossed out items pictured that I'm worried about for one reason or another, usually a minor change in formulation.

Pregnancy Safe Drugstore Skincare Products via @15MinBeauty

Drugstore Routine

Cleanser
• Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser (get it from ULTA or Amazon)
• CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser (get it from ULTA or Amazon)
• Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser (buy it from ULTA or Amazon)

Daily Moisturizer
• CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion (buy it at ULTA or Amazon)
• Neutrogena Naturals Multi-Vitamin Nourishing Moisturizer (get it at ULTA or Amazon)

Sunscreen
• Aveeno Active Naturals Natural Protection SPF 50 Lotion (get it at Target or Amazon)
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid, SPF 50

Eye Cream
• Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Ageless Lifting & Firming Eye Cream (get it at Amazon)
• Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Eye Cream (get it at ULTA or Amazon)
Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 CC Eye Cream (discontinued)

Night Cream
• Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Ageless Reconditioning Night Cream (get it at Amazon)
• Neutrogena Naturals Multi-Vitamin Nourishing Night Cream (get it at ULTA or Amazon)
• Olay Regenerist Advanced Anti-Aging Night Recovery Moisturizing Cream (get it at ULTA or Amazon)


Basic Pregnancy Safe Skincare

Higher End Skincare Routine

Cleanser
• Eve Lom Cleanser (get it at Sephora or Nordstrom)
• Algenist Purifying & Replenishing Cleanser (get it at Sephora or ULTA)
• Philosophy Purity Made Simple (get it at Sephora or ULTA)
• Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash (get it at ULTA or Amazon)

Daily Moisturizer
• Eve Lom TLC Radiance Cream (get it at Birchbox or Bloomingdale's)
• SK-II Essential Power Moisturising Cream (only at SK-II)

Sunscreen
• Mario Badescu Oil-Free Moisturizer SPF 17 (get it at ULTA, Amazon or Nordstrom)

Eye Cream
• Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm (get it at Sephora or Nordstrom)
• SK-II Skin Signature Eye Cream (only at SK-II)
• Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (get it at Kiehl's or Nordstrom)

Night Cream
• Algenist Regenerative Anti-Aging Moisturizer (get it at Sephora or Nordstrom)
• Philosophy Miracle Worker Overnight Cream (get it at Sephora or Nordstrom)
• Kiehl's Super Multi-Corrective Cream (get it at Kiehl's or Nordstrom)


Pregnancy Safe Organic Skincare

Organic Skincare Routine

Cleanser
• Pangea Organics Egyptian Calendula & Blood Orange Facial Cleanser (get it at Pangea or Amazon)
• Osmia Organics Black Clay Facial Soap (get it at Osmia)
• Juice Beauty Cleansing Milk (get it at Juice Beauty, ULTA or BirchBox)

Daily Moisturizer
• Pangea Organics Italian Red Mandarin With Rose Facial Cream (get it at Amazon)
• Osmia Organics Purely Simple Face Cream (get it at Osmia)

Sunscreen
• Juice Beauty SPF 30 Oil-Free Moisturizer (get it here)
• Yes To Cucumbers Natural Sunscreen SPF 30 (get it here)

Eye Cream
• Juice Beauty Smoothing Eye Concentrate (get it here)
• Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel (get it here)

Night Cream
• Juice Beauty Nutrient Moisturizer (get it here)
• Yes to Cucumbers Calming Night Cream (get it here)


Product Sent for Review I Bought It Myself Affiliate Links
44

Pregnancy Skin Care Advice Series


Pregnancy Skin Care Advice Series via @15MinBeauty

Over the years I've written a lot about pregnancy safe skin care. I get emails from readers, comments on social media and here on the blog asking about the safety of products and requests for product advice. Now that I've had my 2nd little one, I've decided to write a lot of that information down and share it in a series of weekly posts. (Just FYI, nesting instinct is a strong motivator, I've been pre-writing posts like crazy so I can have a little time off!)

So, once a week for the next 7 weeks (today counts as week #1) there will be a pregnancy skincare post. Topics like basic skincare, some advice from dermatologists and how I usually recommend to handle pregnancy related acne.

Check out all of my pregnancy skin care posts!
8 Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Lines over on Babble
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare
Giant List of Pregnancy Safe Skin Care Products

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Pregnancy Friendly Skin Care Products

Pregnancy Friendly Skin Care Products

Today I'm sharing pregnancy friendly skin care lines over on Babble. To create that list of 8 maternity oriented skin care lines that are safe, I went through the ingredients in a ton of skin care lines to find the ones that fit my criteria for pregnancy safe skincare. Yes, some lines got left off. On purpose even.

There are also a lot of great products that are pregnancy friendly, but not necessarily from a full pregnancy skin care line. While it would be great to be able to use an entire line of special pregnancy skin care, most of us don't have that luxury. Rather than special ordering an entire line of organic skin care made in France, we're in the aisle at our local big box store, reading labels we don't understand.

There are a lot of really great skin care lines in those big box stores, and many of their products are pregnancy friendly! Read on to see which (exact) products you can pick up and use without worry while you are pregnant. Note that I'll be adding to this list as time goes on, for the brands that are listed I have gone through the entire line's products, reading those long and tedious ingredient lists. If I wasn't sure about a product, it was left off of the list. I've noted what date I went through a brand's product list, note that there are sometimes reformulations that aren't necessarily announced, so always double check the ingredient list!


More posts to check out:
Remember that this is only one post in a series, please look at these other posts for more information.
8 Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Lines over on Babble
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare


Read on for the list!
31

Ask a Beauty Blogger: I'm Pregnant, Can I Cut My Hair?


Pregnancy Hair Care
I've been receiving a huge number of questions about hair care while pregnant. I get them in my inbox, over twitter, in blog post comments... This is the only one that was actually submitted to the Ask a Beauty Blogger question form, but I thought it was a good time to address this question and a few other pregnancy hair care questions (note that I'm not even going to try to answer that hair dye and pregnancy question that is always so controversial. I leave that up to you, your OB and your hair stylist).

First, to answer Sushmita's actual question, I pulled in the big guns. Meaning, my hair stylist from California, the woman I miss dearly (my hair stylist here in Michigan is good, but she just isn't Shannon), and if I could afford it I would really, truly fly to California every 6 weeks to see Shannon. She is that nice of a person and that good. Shannon Ely works at Salon TM2 in Irvine, if you go and see her tell her I say hi!

Here's what Shannon had to say to Sushmita:
Of course you may cut and trim your hair throughout your entire pregnancy. I, personally, tell my pregnant clients that I won't do any drastic changes to their cuts at this time however because hormones make them want to change their look and then they typically are regretful. Soo... Wait for your hormones to get back to normal before you decide to try that pixie cut you've always wanted.

This is soooo true. I can't even tell you how many of my friends have chopped (and I mean chopped) and all of them regretted it. Everyone blamed it on hormones run amok.

What we haven't mentioned yet is that one of the reasons so many women want to cut their hair is that pregnancy hormones mess with your hair's normal growth cycle. (Read more about hair growth cycles in my Laser Hair Removal at Home post). Basically, everything gets stuck in Anagen (growth) phase without entering the Catagen/Involution phase. So, instead of losing the normal average of 100 hairs a day, things just... stick around.

Many pregnant women love this, they have very full hair with tons of volume. If you're like me, and you started with very thick hair, the increase in volume can make your hair much harder to style. I normally get my hair "thinned" (meaning my stylist will trim some out much higher to bring down the volume), and it was really hard to not increase the amount of thinning. It is best to continue what you normally do, because all of that extra hair will be coming out.

Once your hormones return to "normal", you can expect all of that hair stuck in Anagen will enter Catagen and will start shedding. Many women report seeing this sometime after giving birth. They'll start shedding a lot of hair, and it is such a dramatic increase over what they were losing while pregnant that they feel like they're going bald! You can see this shedding start at some point up to 6 months or so after delivery, and it can last for months or even up to a year. Note that because it is related to hormone levels, this can be altered quite a bit by nursing as well. Personally, I had my hair start shedding a little bit more about 4 months or so after delivery, but the big shedding didn't start until after my daughter finally weaned at 16 months. I only had about 2 months of heavy shedding (lucky me), but I lost about 40% of the volume of my hair, even I was feeling bald! (But, the result really was that I was back to where I started, still a lot of volume, just less than I had grown used to having.)

What can you do about the hair shedding? Not much. There are no magic serums, vitamins or hair growth products that can stop this process. NONE. This is hormonally driven. What you can affect is the over all health of your hair and any shedding that you would have from other reasons. You will see shedding if you have thyroid issues (so, if you have so much that it worries you go check with your doctor), for nutritional issues (a healthy diet and maybe even a multivitamin can help, use a prenatal if you're still nursing), and biotin has been shown to increase hair growth rate in studies. So, you can add a biotin supplement or make sure your multivitamin has at least 1 mg a day. Finally, make sure your hair is healthy and minimize breakage. So, heavy conditioning, avoid heat styling and still get trims to take care of split ends.




Do you have a question? Make sure you ask it! I'll address questions in my Ask a Beauty Blogger post series.
2

Kiehl's Photo-Age High Potency Spot Treatment: Melasma Eraser for the Win!

Kiehl's Photo-Age High Potency Spot Treatment, review
Just read this product description from Kiehls.com:
Our Photo-Age High-Potency Spot Treatment powerfully reverses UV Damage three ways: provides instant luminosity & radiance, reverses visible damage on skin surface, and inhibits invisible damage from rising to the surface.

Doesn't that sound great? Who doesn't want improved luminosity and radiance??

But, the real reason that I was excited about this product is on the box.
This intensive, targeted treatment is formulated with brightening actives to reduce irregularities such as brown age spots which can be caused by sun damage and darkness from scarring.

You had me at brightening.

4

Pregnancy Safe Skin Care: What Are My Criteria?

Pregnancy safe skincare criteria
Pregnancy safe skincare criteria

Yesterday I explained all of the new images that I'll be tacking on to some of my product reviews. One of the requested images was regarding pregnancy safety, not at all surprising since I'm the beauty blogging doctor and that is one of my most popular posts. But, given the comments I sometimes get on that post (just this last weekend I had to be reminded by my hubby to not feed the trolls), I wanted to link to this post first explaining my philosophy on this list.

I highly recommend discussing this topic with your OB/GYN if you are currently pregnant, nursing or considering pregnancy in the near future. The last time I checked, ACOG had no official position on this topic. The AAP doesn't either. Most women get this information from their OB/GYN, and that info is based upon what that physician was taught and what they currently know of the topic. As well, this information can change quite a bit based on your doctor's philosophy toward this topic. I urge you to find a physician who has a practice philosophy you are comfortable with and agree with. I wrote these posts for informational purposes only, this is not meant to take the place of your physician's advice.

I am not an obstetrician. I am a pediatrician. So, I look at things from the stand point of a pediatrician. There are some common ingredients in skin care items that have little to no pregnancy safety data in humans. Generally these are regarded as something to avoid or consider avoiding because we just don't know. I put those things on my list. Some physicians don't put them on their list, such as some of the hydroxy acids. Your physician may be more comfortable with the data about that particular ingredient than I was. I was extremely conservative in my recommendations. Again, I'm a pediatrician, so I think about those things first. My OB/GYN was also very conservative regarding these recommendations during my pregnancy.

So, things that made my list are items that are on many other lists. Some are items that I haven't seen on lists, but have heard mention pregnancy as a no-no.

Laser treatments are the classic example of this. Pregnancy is often listed as a contraindication for phototherapy. However, some dermatologists state that lasers are fine, and I can't think of a reason they would harm the baby (no, the baby doesn't need eye protection. Thanks person that was so rude to me via broken english about this recently). In fact, phototherapy has been documented to work and to be safe when used in treatment of many dermatologic disorders during pregnancy. Including treatments of the cervix and vulva. Which is right there next to the baby. Really, the issue is that they haven't been extensively studied for safety during pregnancy. So, they go on the list. (And practically speaking, very few physicians or medi-spas will treat you during pregnancy. Mostly it is included in the list for those people with at home phototherapy devices. Like me. I had to stop when I found out I was going to be a mom.)

Once again, just remember that my recommendations are conservative. They meshed well with the philosophy of my own OB/GYN when I was pregnant. Your own OB/GYN may or may not agree with these recommendations. That does not mean that your physician is ill informed or that I'm lying about having gone to medical school and being a pediatrician. It just means that we have different philosophies. Your job is to take the info and decided which recommendations you are most comfortable with following. Make sure you have a physician treating you that you can discuss these things with and who has a practice philosophy that meshes well with your own.


Check out all of my pregnancy skin care posts!
8 Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Lines over on Babble
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare
Giant List of Pregnancy Safe Skin Care Products





1

New Mommy Beauty: Skin Care While Pregnant

Pregnant and Pregnancy skincare
Pregnant and Pregnancy skincare
A few days ago I shared with you what skin care ingredients to avoid while pregnant or breastfeeding. The unavoidable truth is that the list of things to not use because of actual evidence of badness (or any lack of evidence that something is safe) is rather long, and makes picking out skin care somewhat tough while pregnant. So, really what most people want is a list of safe skin care products for pregnancy and nursing.

Add in wanting to continue fighting aging (because let's face it, most of us are over 30 while pregnant rather than in our early 20s)... and.... our options have dramatically shrunk.

First, a quick little review of what I think should be included in everyone's skin care routine and any modifications for pregnancy.

1. Gentle Cleansing: Pick a cleanser that removes all of your makeup (especially in the eye area, it's amazing how much eye liner and mascara can be left behind and look horrible), rinses off easily and leaves your skin non-irritated with no redness or after wash tightness.

2. Exfoliation: Usually done either physically (with a scrub or wash cloth or even a BuffPuf) or chemically. In my usual life I prefer chemical since it is more predictable and my skin can tolerate it well. However since the hydroxy acids are a no-go during pregnancy I've opted for physical exfoliation. This means a few times a week I'll use a scrub (I prefer to do this in the shower for easy rinsing, my current favorite is Your Best Face's Prep) and in between I simply make sure I scrub my face a little bit more with my washcloth.

3. Moisturization: The mythical glowy complexion of pregnancy can be achieved (I think I had it for a few weeks somewhere around week 24), and one of the keys is moisture! Keeping your skin nice and plump helps with minimizing any signs of aging as well, even if the effects are temporary. My favorite ingredient in a moisturizer is Hyaluronic Acid (aka- Sodium Hyaluronate) since as a humectant it attracts and keeps moisture in the skin rather than sealing it in (and looking greasy) like an emollient. I love emollients on my body though. Just not on my t-zone.

4. Sun Protection: This is always important. At a bare minimum I think everyone needs a SPF 15 with broad spectrum UVA and UVB coverage, SPF 30 is even better if you can get it. I do not think that you should be looking to your makeup for SPF (chances are you're not going to use the huge amount of foundation or powder to obtain that rating, if your product has SPF in it just consider this a little added bonus). I think you need to have your sunscreen in your daily moisturizer or a separate sunscreen product. Note that during pregnancy with your hormones run amok you are at risk of developing the dreaded "mask of pregnancy", Melasma. I'll be featuring a full post about this (along with the recs of a few dermatologists on how to deal with it) in a few weeks, but your main defense against it is sunscreen. So slather up!


So, I'm sure if you read my blog regularly you recognize my anti-aging checklist. It lists the ingredient categories that I like to include in every anti-aging routine (not necessarily in 1 product). My ideal is to have the routine above, to have peptides and anti-oxidants +/- hydroxy acids in a moisturizer, sunscreen in my day time moisturizer, and then to add in retinoids as a concentrated product that I can then use as my skin tolerates (my skin is usually a bit sensitive to retinoids, I usually end up at every other night). Obviously this can't happen with all of the ingredients to avoid.

So, by the time we take into account what to avoid, the anti-aging checklist turns into the image on the bottom. We're still allowed peptides and anti-oxidants, but retinoids are all a big no-no and the hydroxy acids are typically avoided, especially if you're erring on the conservative side like me. Yes, it sucks to not be able to use a retinoid, but it's only for 9 months so not a big deal. It's the hydroxy acid avoidance that is actually much more annoying. Do you know how hard it is to avoid hydroxy acids?? They like to pop up everywhere. Throw in avoiding all of the other ingredients (especially those skin whiteners) and suddenly there aren't a lot of options.

So, what have I found that works with this? Some of these were old stand-bys that I like to keep on hand to use in between product testings, and some of them were actually things that I tested. The first products in each category are the ones I actually used while pregnant, then I listed a few that I've used in the past and after checking ingredient lists I found they would have worked too.

Cleanser
Olay Foaming Face Wash: Honestly, this one contains citric acid, an AHA, but I missed it on the ingredient list. It's basically the last ingredient (leading me to believe it is there to balance the pH) and therefore in super low amounts. Plus, you wash this off immediately. I used this in my third trimester, I'm trying not to feel guilty.
Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser
Also Works:
Cetaphil Cleanser
Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash
Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser

Nightly/Treatment Moisturizer
StriVectin SD
Elizabeth Intervene Stress Recovery Night Cream (This product has been reformulated, my box didn't have a retinoid listed but it does contain this ingredient now. Check your box, but this is no longer safe!)
Your Best Face Control
Also Works:
Neutrogena Light Night Cream

Eye Cream
Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller
Elizabeth Arden Intervene Eye Cream
Your Best Face Refresh Eye Cream
Also Works:
Neutrogena Ageless Restoratives Anti-Oxidant Eye Cream: I haven't used this one before but I really wanted another eye cream to recommend and this one fits the bill

Day Moisturizer with SPF
Olay Regenerist UV Defense Regenerating Lotion SPF 50
Aveeno Ageless Vitality, SPF 30
Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer SPF 15
Also Works:
Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture SPF 15


What to do with Blemishes?
So... What are your favorite topical ingredients to treat blemishes? Because it sure seems like all of mine (Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic acid) were both on that list of no-no ingredients. Just try finding an acne treatment that doesn't contain either of those or a hydroxy acid. Pretty much impossible. A reader asked me about Witch Hazel the other day, and that is safe in pregnancy, so that is an option if it doesn't try you out like crazy (like it does me, so I avoid it like the plague).

So.... those hormone induced bumps... you pretty much need to wait them out. To help things along I did do some warm compresses, I did have a facial and let my esthetician do some extractions, and I tried to keep my pores as cleaned out as I could. So, exfoliation, I used my Clarisonic every day and did some masking. Especially during the month that blemishes were a problem for me, I was using a clay containing mask to help suck up all the nastiness about 2-3 times a week (I love the Borghese Fango Mask or the Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask, which might be the best $3 you'll ever spend).



Check out all of my pregnancy skin care posts!
8 Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Lines over on Babble
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare
Giant List of Pregnancy Safe Skin Care Products


Pregnant and Pregnancy skincare



Some of the items mentioned in this post were sent to me for consideration, some I bought. Some were sent to me and I bought again them later.
175

New Mommy Beauty: What Skin Care Ingredients to Avoid While Pregnant (or Breastfeeding)

Skin care during pregnancy and during breast feeding

skin care, ingredients to avoid in pregnancy or breast feeding
It seems easy to imagine that if you are pregnant (or are trying to get pregnant) that you should probably start taking those prenatals and avoid the pregnancy no-no items like alcohol, tobacco, etc. Most of us don't think about our skin care items. The truth is that there are ingredients in your night cream and acne spot treatment that have not been proven safe for use during pregnancy, or even worse, have been linked to birth defects. However, it is very difficult to find out exactly which skin care ingredients you should avoid during pregnancy or while nursing.

Personally, I am going the conservative route and avoiding ingredients that have not been proven to be safe in pregnancy. You can decide for yourself (in conjunction with your OB or dermatologist) how conservative you want to be regarding ingredients. I'm lucky in that I can cheat and look up an ingredient's pregnancy category in a drug book (my favorite is Lexi-Comp if that makes a difference to you). Dermatologist Dr. Ellen Marmur, whose book Simple Skin Beauty I wrote about a few days ago, says "be on the safe side and ask your ob/gyn about anything that you think might be harmful." I also want to add that even if you've been reassured that something is safe, if it makes you uncomfortable, just avoid it. There are so many products on the market now, it should be easy to avoid an ingredient. It isn't worth losing sleep over!


My list of ingredients to avoid while pregnant:
Retin A/Accutane, Retinoids, Vitamin A: Yes, the big baddies here are definitely the 2 prescription drugs listed first. Accutane is a huge issue with pregnancy as it is linked to many different birth defects. In fact, most physicians won't even prescribe it to women of child bearing age unless they are also on birth control or sign a waiver. While Retin A and over the counter retinoids are not as strongly linked to birth defects as Accutane, they are all the same class of drug and as such are on pretty much every MD's list of no-no ingredients. The retinoids are Vitamin A derivatives, and I've seen quite a few lists advising to avoid topical Vitamin A as well, so it's made my list. Yes, there is still Vitamin A in your diet and your prenatal vitamin. It should be there and can take care of your needs. But, no need to add even more in skin care.

All Hydroxy Acids: From citric acid to salicylic acid, pretty much all of the hydroxy acids either are not safe or simply don't have enough information to say "sure, go crazy and rub this all over you." So, the official word is that all of they hydroxy acids, alpha and beta, have pregnancy categories that recommend avoidance, with 1 exception.

The exception is Lactic Acid, which your body makes on its own (I spend a lot of time in the PICU trying to prevent little bodies from making it, but that's a whole different issue). Lactic acid has been shown to be fine in pregnant animals, but we don't have evidence in humans. So, the official recommendation is to use with caution if really needed. Personally, I'm avoiding it in everyday skin care items but did let my esthetician use it in my facial a few weeks ago.

I've seen a few books that say Glycolic Acid is fine, and there are many physicians that tell this to their patients. However, its official pregnancy category is that there isn't enough info so should be avoided. The "correct" type of study to prove the safety of Glycolic Acid will simply never be done, so many physicians have looked at the current evidence and feel fine recommending it. I personally avoided it while pregnant and it's one I look for when recommending products as safe or not.

I also want to point out that Citric Acid is found usually in very small amounts at the very end of ingredient lists. It is typically there to help modulate pH in a product. You likely expose yourself to more Citric Acid in one glass of OJ than you would in a year of using such a product. I avoided it in my first 2 trimesters, but lightened up in my third trimester when I realized I was being a bit silly.

Dihydroxyacetone: Also known as DHA, this is the active ingredient in sunless tanners. The jury is still out on whether sunless tanners are safe. I've seen sources that say yes, some that say no. I can tell you that my skin has taken on some interesting dry patches while pregnant, and it would be pretty hard to get an even sunless tan. This is a great time to embrace the pale, so I'm going with that.

Hydroquinone: Though I found it in several drug references as safe in pregnancy, these ingredients were listed on enough lists of things to avoid due to unknown risks that I'm avoiding them.

Kojic Acid: This ingredient is sometimes used to help lighten the skin, but it has shown up on multiple lists of items to avoid. I can't find the reason why, but I'm thinking lightening my skin shouldn't be a priority now anyways.

Benzoyl Peroxide: Again, I can't find this in any actual drug reference books and a literature search didn't turn up anything of use, but it is listed over and over on lists of things to avoid while pregnant. Which is pretty horrible since that leaves pretty much nothing to treat blemishes during pregnancy.

Laser Therapy: I've seen laser therapy, whether for zapping away birth marks, tattoos or hair, listed over and over on lists of things to avoid while pregnant. Even my beloved Silk'n Sens Epil lists pregnancy as a contraindication for use. I had to stop using it as soon as I found out about the pregnancy. As well, most places that offer lasers refuse to treat you if you are pregnant. Personally, I can not think of a physiologic reason why lasers would be bad during pregnancy. A laser pointed at your shin isn't going to somehow bounce the light up to your uterus, and there aren't any known systemic effects of lasers. Dr. Marmur agrees with me, in her book she says "Lasers, however, are safe during pregnancy because they don't introduce a chemical into your body."

Salicylates: I'm adding this in as an addendum (7/6/2012) because it didn't really dawn on me to include these! I think of Salicylates as a medication to take orally (aspirin!) rather than a topical ingredient. Regardless, this should include topical willow bark and should be avoided.

Parabens and chemical sunscreens: since that seems to be asked over and over. They are currently considered safe by pretty much everyone except the EWG, who have a big propaganda machine and I don't think they interpret most studies correctly. If you disagree with me about that so be it, I'm just stating my opinion since I've been asked over and over. Both are also considered safe for pregnancy and breast feeding. BUT... if an ingredient makes you uncomfortable you should just avoid it. There are so many products on the market these days that it is very possible to do so without any issues.

Hyaluronic Acid use during pregnancy: Hyaluronic acid is basically the same thing as Sodium Hyaluronate. I can't figure out how this became an ingredient that is sometimes on no-no lists, because not only does your body already make a ton of it, but is a big molecule. Huge. It is so large that it just hangs out in the spot where it is made, much to large to get into cells, to pass through membranes or travel to other locations. Much is the same for any Hyaluronic Acid that you apply to the surface of the skin. Your skin has very tight membrane junctions between those cells on the surface. Hyaluronic Acid can't get through and just sits there. I'm always very suspicious when a company tells me that their HA is different and can get it. It's a big red flag. So, since it can't get in, and your body is already making it anyways, definitely feel that it is safe to keep using HA in your products. It just sits on the surface and helps hold moisture there. We need it to live up to pregnancy glow expectations!

Sulfur: This is often found in acne treatments, and I haven't really been able to find much info about safety in pregnancy. Be aware that if you're allergic to sulfa drugs you should avoid this ingredient, but I've seen it as the active ingredient in many "pregnancy safe" acne treatments and is probably fine.


To Avoid While Breast Feeding:
A great book for looking up whether you should avoid a particular medication during pregnancy is Medications and Mother's Milk, which is updated every 2 years. This was the book we used in my residency and our lactation consultant did carry it around everywhere with her! Luckily, most medications are fine to use, and this translates over to most topical products as well. L1-L3 are considered safe, L4 and above is not safe. I also looked up each drug in the book Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation, which is even more complete.

Retin A/Accutane, Retinoids, Vitamin A: Used topically, Retinoids are a category L3, but orally (as with Accutane) they fall to L4. So, topical is ok, systemic is not. The second book seemed to agree with this as well, though they were more complete in listing all of the systemic (oral and IV) retinoids, things I've never heard of. Many of those were fine, surprisingly enough. I'd check with your doctor if you're on anything other than just a basic, over the counter topical retinoid, but those found in skin care products should be fine.

Hydroquinone: While there is no data on Hydroquinone in humans, and no studies have found the levels achieved with topical use, hydroquinone is likely safe to use during nursing. Why? The ingredient is a strong base, which means the drug that actually reaches your bloodstream would be ionized and therefore unavailable to be excreted into breast milk. Which is great, because I have some Melasma to treat!

Pretty much everything else: Safe!


Check out all of my pregnancy skin care posts!
8 Pregnancy Friendly Skincare Lines over on Babble
Skin care ingredients that should be avoided during pregnancy
Skin care routine adjustments for pregnancy
My criteria for pregnancy safe skincare
Giant List of Pregnancy Safe Skin Care Products





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