What changes will occur in the skin during pregnancy?

At the beginning of this article, let me say that those of you who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant should not be too anxious. Pregnancy has been something that humans have experienced for millions of years, and emergency plans for pregnancy have long been imprinted in our genes. In this article we are going to explain that what changes will occur in the skin during pregnancy?

As for the skin, it is the outermost and largest organ of the human body. Its main function is to act as a barrier: external stimuli/pollutants cannot enter, and internal tissues and nutrients cannot escape.

When there is a problem with the body, the brain will first abandon the health of the skin. After all, internal organs are relatively more important than the skin. The body needs to save energy to protect the internal organs first. For example, the most direct manifestation of decreased immunity is that the skin will be sensitive and red, and in severe cases, it will develop into skin diseases such as eczema. In the same way, you can know the condition of your body. If you often stay up late to work overtime for a period of time, your skin will become sensitive, itchy and other discomforts, which is most likely due to decreased immunity.

Pregnancy requires more nutrition and energy to meet the growth needs of the child and the health of the body. Therefore, the skin, as the outermost organ, will also be temporarily “abandoned”.

What changes will occur in the skin during pregnancy?

1. Melasma

Chloasma is likely to develop during pregnancy due to the influence of hormones , of course, there are a few people who do not develop it. However, there is no need to worry about this kind of spots, because it is caused by changes in progesterone and body hormone levels. Chloasma will gradually disappear after giving birth.

If the melasma does not gradually disappear after giving birth, it can only be said that the cause of the melasma on your face is not only related to hormone imbalance, but also related to other reasons. You can find the corresponding cause of the spots and reverse the process.

As for the causes of long spots, I have written a detailed introduction before, so I will not repeat it here:

2. Loose skin

After pregnancy , the skin becomes loose . The telomeres of girls shorten by 4.5% for each baby they give birth to , which is equivalent to 11 years of accelerated cellular aging. Childbirth causes female aging to be even more serious than smoking, drinking, and obesity. This does not include the aging caused by staying up late every day and taking care of the baby after giving birth.

The results of the study showed that the more fetuses a woman has, the more her telomeres shorten. If a woman has five fetuses, the rate of telomere shortening can reach 11.7%, which shows that giving birth to a fetus can indeed accelerate the aging of women.

Bart

Having children can help women live longer and reduce their risk of disease:

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that when the subjects were 60 years old, women who had children could still live another 24.6 years, while women without children could only live 18.4 years. In addition, the study found that giving birth to an average of 2.5 children in a woman’s lifetime would have the greatest benefits for ovarian function and physical health. The 2.5 here refers to the statistical data of the study, not 2.5 individuals.

The number of follicles in a woman’s body is constant after she is born. Every woman of childbearing age releases one mature egg every month. If the follicles are released too early, the ovaries will fail early, and there will be a decrease in estrogen secretion after menopause, which will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.

During pregnancy and lactation, the hormones in the body will temporarily stop the normal ovulation of the ovaries. The temporary cessation of ovulation delays the onset of menopause. Increasing the protection time of estrogen can effectively reduce the risk of disease and prolong the life of women.

3. Acne

During pregnancy, the hormone levels in the body are unstable. The androgen that is sometimes high and sometimes low will stimulate the secretion of sebaceous glands , produce a large amount of oil, and cause indirect acne skin, which means that acne sometimes appears and sometimes not.

Don’t be afraid of acne during pregnancy, it is a temporary problem. After the hormones in the body are adjusted to a reasonable level for a short period of time, the acne will disappear. No special treatment is required, just do a good job of daily cleaning and moisturizing. Of course, if the acne is more serious and large in area during pregnancy, you need to seek help from a doctor.

4. Dry or oily skin

This is very similar to the cause of acne during pregnancy. Due to the unstable hormone levels in the body during pregnancy, the secretion of oil is sometimes more and sometimes less, which manifests itself on the skin as dryness and oiliness. Don’t worry too much, just do daily cleaning and moisturizing. Just apply more lotion/cream when the skin is dry, and less lotion/cream when it is oily. Of course, moisturizing cannot achieve the ideal effect by relying on one product, and a whole set of products needs to be used together. I will introduce it in detail later.

In summary: Don’t be afraid of the clinical phenomena that occur during pregnancy, they will improve or even disappear after pregnancy, such as chloasma, acne, oiliness, dullness, etc. However, skin sagging cannot be improved, it is a cellular level problem.

How to care during pregnancy

1. Choose skin care products with safe ingredients

There are some so-called products for pregnant women that have harmful ingredients that pose safety risks to ordinary people, let alone pregnant women.

So when buying a product, be sure to check the ingredients and don’t believe the seller’s propaganda—the seller’s words are always deceiving.

I feel like I will be poor for the rest of my life, no one will ask me to do advertising, haha~

If you don’t understand the ingredients, you can download the Beauty Practice APP, enter the product name into the search, and the results will be clear at a glance.

If the product cannot be found on this APP, it is recommended not to buy it, either it is illegally imported or it is a product without any quality assurance. Because the cosmetics information in this APP is synchronized with the Food and Drug Administration, it is rare that it cannot be found.

Of course, if you want to use a certain product and can’t find it on the Beauty Practice APP, you can go to the official website of the Food and Drug Administration to check it again. If you still can’t find it, don’t think about it, there are so many products in the world, just change it

So during pregnancy, don’t blindly pursue those skin care products that are specially labeled for pregnant women, because the price of skin care products with this word will make you frown. As long as the skin care products you use on a daily basis do not contain irritating or risky ingredients, you can continue to use them.

Irritating teratogenic ingredients: salicylic acid, A-alcohol , propylparaben, ethylparaben, etc.

2. Don’t use sunscreen

There are two reasons:

a. The sunscreen in sunscreen will enter the blood, and its harmfulness to the human body is still under discussion. However, some sunscreens have been proven to be harmful to the body, such as benzophenone-3.

Don’t be naive and think that physical sunscreens are safe because they have large molecular weights and cannot penetrate under the skin.

I just want to say that was in the past, it’s hard to say now…

We all know that pure physical sunscreens. Due to the large molecular weight of physical sunscreens, will appear fake white, unsatisfactory feeling after application, and the skin feel is quite bad. In order to alleviate the skin feel problem, the merchants process the macromolecular physical sunscreens into nano-scale sunscreens. Which improves the skin feel and eliminates the fake white and unsatisfactory feeling. At the same time, the physical sunscreens can easily penetrate into the subcutaneous tissue.

When you buy physical sunscreen, will the merchant tell you that it is a nano-grade physical sunscreen?

I guess you will get no reply from the brand customer service. They don’t know anything about this. After all, after such an improvement, it can enter the subcutaneous tissue. Generally, R&D personnel will not tell customer service about it. Ask them to tell the customers, unless the R&D personnel want to kill this product.

b. Sunscreen is usually oily, and sweat stains and the weak skin barrier during pregnancy. It can easily irritate the skin, making it sensitive and red. In severe cases, it can turn into eczema. At this time, do you say you take medication or not?

Unless the pregnant woman is expose to the sun all day, there is no other way but to choose physical sunscreen. But it must be noted that the best way to prevent sunburn is to avoid sun exposure > cover up > sunscreen.

See?

Sunscreen comes last. If you really want to go out for a day, you must have a parasol. A sun hat, sun-protective clothing and other clothing to cover yourself up.

Pregnant women can go out to bask in the sun when the ultraviolet rays are not strong. Because basking in the sun is good for health and is good for both pregnant women and fetuses:

a. The ultraviolet rays in the sun can promote the synthesis of vitamin D on the skin. Vitamin D can promote calcium absorption. The latest research shows that vitamin D is also related to the body’s immunity.

b. Improve memory and make people smarter

Studies have show that ultraviolet rays in sunlight can increase the level of glutamate in the brain. Which can excite the hippocampus area of ​​our brain that controls memory and problem-solving ability. Improve mental decline to a certain extent. Some parents say that letting their children get more sun exposure will make them smarter, which actually makes sense.

c. Sunlight can promote the increase of adrenaline and other hormone levels, making people feel happy and relaxed.

d. Sunlight is a natural antibacterial agent that can kill certain pathogens and make people healthier.

f. Sunlight can promote the secretion of serotonin and improve sleep quality

3. Do a good job of moisturizing and anti-wrinkle

It is not ideal to use any product to achieve moisturizing and anti-wrinkle effects

because

Different skin care products have different effects on the skin:

Cleansing : Cleanses the face of impurities and excess oil.

Water: It can replenish moisture for the skin in time. But because it does not have closed oil, it has no water-locking effect. The water will apply evaporate in a short time. In addition, water can also adjust the pH value of the skin, allowing subsequent products to be better absorb.

Essence : Highly concentrated nutrient solution that can deeply nourish the skin and make it better.

Lotion/Cream: It mainly plays a sealing role, preventing the evaporation of moisture from the epidermis, allowing the effective ingredients of skin care products to remain better on the epidermis and play their maximum role.

However, cream is thicker than lotion, has stronger occlusive properties, and is more suitable for dry skin.

Applying the whole set of skin care products can enhance the skin’s water-locking ability and make the effect more obvious.

4. No makeup

Heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, are allow to be add to makeup. To make the color more vivid and last longer. Although there are clear dosage requirements for the addition of these heavy metals. It is not recommend for pregnant women to use them for safety reasons. Of course, if you want to take bright maternity photos, it is not a big deal to put on makeup once in a while.

5. Use whitening products with caution

Whitening products on the market mainly target the growth and shedding of melanosomes to achieve the effect of whitening and lightening spots. Melanosomes themselves can protect the skin from UV damage. The skin barrier of pregnant women is relatively fragile, and the resistance to UV rays naturally decreases. In addition, some whitening products are not recommend for use during pregnancy, such as acid-based and phenol-based products.

Finally, I would like to say that it is really not necessary to buy so-called special skin care products for pregnant women during pregnancy. As long as the skin care products you use on a daily basis do not contain risky ingredients. You can continue to use them. Of course, if you are really worry. You can buy special skin care products for pregnant women. But you must check the ingredients of the products yourself to ensure that there are no risky ingredients. Or irritating ingredients before purchasing.