Top 5 skin problems for mother during pregnancy

Dry skin

A pregnant woman already has dry and allergic skin which is dry, flaky, and easily to get itchy. Particularly, when you drink only little amount of water and stay in the air-conditioned room for a long time, the skin will become very dry. So, you should always drink a lot of water, eat vegetables and fruits as well as exercise regularly. When you have to stay in the air-conditioned room for a long period, you should increase warmth to your body by wearing a sweater. If the skin is very dry, you should use a mild soap together with apply cream to increase level of moisture. Taking shower with cold water or bathing in saline can reduce the itchiness.

After shower, you should apply skincare lotion or cream every time. At present, there are several kinds of pregnancy stretch marks creams available in the market. It depends on the mothers which cream to be chosen for their own use. It may be the same cream that you use before the pregnancy. If you are not sure whether the cream you are using contains safe ingredients, you can alternatively use baby oil or olive oil.

Stretch marks

Skin nourishment is not only for the area of dry and itchy skin. The skin at hip, arms, and legs also need special care, especially at the upper arms and thighs which keep expanding. If the mother ignores caring of these areas until there are stretch marks, the consequence may be itchiness during the period approaching the delivery date. During the cold weather, you should apply lotion or baby oil in order to increase moisture to skins in the aforementioned areas.

Problems of stretch marks on the belly remain unanswered why some women have this problem while some others do not have such problem. Some pregnant women also have itchiness, with brown spots, and some have pink-red stretch marks. The similar symptom is that there are brown stretch marks found in area under the navel down towards the underbelly. Such marks are resulted from changes of skin color pigment during the pregnancy and they will naturally disappear after the delivery.

Dull skin

Besides having dry skin in cool season or winter, the mother may notice that, at nearly the end of pregnancy period, the facial skin gets darker and oily, and possibly have more blemishes and freckles. Some mothers may have darker skin in hidden areas such as armpits and groins. The darker skin is resulted from hormone changes during the pregnancy, causing changes of skin color pigment and the skin becomes more sensitive to sunlight so that facial and body skin can get darker.

For facial skincare, the mothers can generally do the same way as they did before they became pregnant. However, if the skin is very dry in the cool season or winter, you should use moisturizer to increase the skin’s moisture. If you wish to test whether the moisturizer you wish to use is appropriate to your skin during pregnancy, you can simply do the test by applying moisturizer well all over the face, then leave it for a while and observe how quick the facial skin get dry. A good moisturizer should keep the facial skin moisturized for 2-4 hours. If you feel that the facial skin get dry too quickly, you should change the moisturizer.

Acne

Pregnancy stimulates the occurrence of acne, or worsens the current acne problem. The reason for this to happen is that the level of androgen hormone considerably increases; stimulating functions of oil organs until the skin pores are blocked and results in the occurrence of acne when involving with bacteria. You should avoid hard scrubbing on skin because it worsens the problem and causes more serious inflammation. Try to consult with doctor concerning which acne medical treatment is appropriate for use during pregnancy. If you have serious acne problem, the doctor may prescribe you a medical treatment or lotion for curing the acne.

Blemishes

Your skin color is likely to change during the pregnancy. Although the exposure to sunlight is limited, there can still be blemishes or dark spots around the cheek, under the eyes, or other areas. Most Asian women and those having white skin can easily blemishes during the pregnancy. To prevent or reduce the occurrence of blemish, you must use sunscreen cream with highest SPF and can protect the skin from both the UVA and UVB rays. Wear a hat or use an umbrella every time you are exposed to the sunlight. If there are still blemishes even though you have already tried to protect the skin, you must wait until the baby delivery is done and breastfeeding period are ended. After that, you can use the whitening cream such as Hydroquinone products.