What is pregnancy acne and what causes it? It isn’t a condition that affects every pregnant woman, and the women it does affect are all affected differently. Some women’s actually clears up and is smoother than ever during pregnancy, while others look like teenagers back in high school.

There are two things that make acne in pregnancy more prevalent. One is the increase of the hormone progesterone, and the other is the mother’s level of hydration. Not only does progesterone smooth the muscles of the uterus, which can lead to heartburn, but it also causes the secretions from your skin glands to increase, which leads to the increase in acne.

Staying hydrated in pregnancy is important, but as for everyone, it is recommended to a pregnant woman to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. More if possible. The water rehydrates the body including the skin, and it also softens the other effects of progesterone in your body, like helping with constipation and helping your uterus relax.

There is no cure for pregnancy acne and very little you can do about it besides taking steps to prevent secondary infection. You don’t want to scratch or pick at your face as it could lead to scarring. Try to wear little or no makeup in an effort to not clog the pores and wash your face well every morning and night.

Some OB/GYNs will provide prescriptions for a cream to use while pregnant. Others will refer you to a dermatologist. When this is the case, your dermatologist should work closely with your doctor to assure that they are prescribing you medication that is safe for you to take during your pregnancy.

By Cat Archer

First of all, most stretch marks do just fade over time, making them much less noticeable, and lots of people can live with them this way. You can also cover them up with make-up made especially for that purpose. For those who want to do better than just covering them up, other therapies are available, for example;

Laser Therapy
This type of therapy is promising option. The kind of laser a surgeon uses will be determined by the color and to a certain extent the age of the stretch marks. One type of laser will stimulate the production of cells that make pigment, another type of laser works by reducing the color of stretch marks.

The reason that stretch marks appear is because of the skin becoming stretched past it’s natural limit. Another form of laser treatment actually stimulates collagen production to restore elasticity in the stretch marks themselves. This stretching of the skin does not just happen in pregnancy, but can also occur when a person grows rapidly such as during puberty. The damage caused by this stretching is actually done in the skin’s middle layer, the dermis.

Blue Light Therapy
Another treatment for stretch marks is blue light therapy – this form of therapy can be helpful in treating acne as well as stretch marks. It works with a combination of gel and light, and together these are used to remove stretch marks.

Creams
A much well established and low tech treatment for stretch marks is to use creams that help moisturize skin, repair collagen and elastin growth. These creams will often contain combinations of cocoa butter, wheat germ oil, lanolin and vitamin E.

In reality though, these creams are at their most effective when used during the period that your skin is being stretched, as they will help keep your skin soft, supple, smooth and elastic. So ideally you need to apply creams during your pregnancy to help avoid the problem occurring in the first place – so treat them as a preventative measure. If you haven’t applied creams while the skin was being stretched, the sooner you begin afterwards, the better.

Who has to worry most about stretch marks? People who are genetically disposed to them – so see whether your mother has stretch marks and this might give you an idea of what could be in store for you. It has also been found that people who have darker skin tend to be less susceptible to stretch marks than those who have lighter skin.

Of course when you carefully monitor your weight gain during pregnancy, and apply creams that have been designed specially to help avoid stretch marks during pregnancy you should not find that stretch marks cause you such a problem once your bundle of joy has arrived.

At the end of the day there simply is not one fail-safe, 100 percent way to prevent or completely get rid of stretch marks, but a combination of some of these therapies should dramatically reduce their appearance or can eliminate them completely.

Do keep in mind that stretch marks themselves pose absolutely no threat to your health at all. They are more of a cosmetic issue, and they will fade with time.

About the Author
Cat writes many informative articles on subjects that are related to family and pregnancy. For more articles on pregnancy and Family Matters visit http://www.familyinformationsite.com.