Skin and hair care tips during pregnancy – Dr. Rasya Dixit

Skin and hair care in pregnancy is something that most people ask me about. Pregnancy is a much awaited destination in most women’s lives and they want to take special care of themselves in this period so that they can look their radiant best. But some of the most common issues that occurs in pregnancy is some hormonal acne on the jaw line or on the face which they never had before. They can also have some amount of hair loss and pigmentation if they have a family history of pigmentation on their face. Most people want to know what they can do to take care of themselves. The first thing is that there are lot of products which we advice not to use during this period because these products can be absorbed through the skin and they can be affecting the unborn baby in a negative way. These includes face wash, creams or peels which contains salicylic acid, retinoid creams or tablets. The third thing is pigmentation. To avoid pigmentation use a broad spectrum sunscreen whether you are indoors or outdoors and re-apply it every 3 to 4 hours. This prevents or lightens the chances of pigmentation occurring. A lot of people also want to know what to do about the stretch marks that comes around this time. For this we usually prefer that you use some moisturising and your gynaecologist will correctly tell you make sure that your weight gain is slow and steady and it is not very rapid which causes the stretch marks to become even more prominent. For stretch marks there are a multiple number of creams that are available but they also contain retinol and make sure that you use them under the guidance of your gynaecologist or your dermatologist. The other condition is tremendous amount of hair fall. This is a normal condition because of the hormone changes but again there are many medications like minoxidil which are available without a prescription. These can again harm your baby. So remember when you are pregnant or breast feeding whatever medicines you are consuming or applying can harm your baby. So check with your dermatologist or gynaecologist.