D.C. Area Babies
need skin help!
I had to stop using my acne spot treatment and retinol when I got pregnant and my skin is rebelling now.
I've had two huge cystic acne breakouts on my chin and I look gross. Does anyone know of any pregnancy safe acne treatments? I am still using the same cleanser, but it just doesn't keep my skin as clear without the help of the other stuff :-(
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Re: need skin help!
I use acne spot treatments with salicylic acid as the active ingredient, like Clean and Clear. I'm hoping you'll say that's OK.
Murad makes a safe acne treatment. It contains sulfur as the active ingredient (sounds weird, but it works). You can buy it at sephora. I had to resort to this when I was pregnant, too.
When I got really desperate, I used my salycylic acid spot treatment for a couple of days and figured it was such a small amount, it was probably ok.
The cystic acne breakouts are the WORST. My skin was awful with DD and with #3 (yet perfection while pregnant with DS...so maybe this next one is a girl?). I'm usually able to keep them away with Differin gel, but it's not been definitively determined as safe for pregnancy or BFing. As soon as I went off the gel...ugh. I even had to get Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash this time because my upper back was a mess, too...just in time for tank-top weather.
For my face, I use Body Shop tea tree foaming cleanser (it worked better than the regular face wash in the line) in the shower every morning and usually do a water-only wipe-down at night. If my skin is feeling tight after my shower, I use a little Olay Daily Regenerating Serum (much lighter than a lotion). At night, I use Arbonne Clear Advantage toner, which isn't drying at all. It has 0.5% salicylic acid, which some say isn't safe while pregnant, but I did a good amount of research. If you use it ON your skin (as opposed to taking an oral acne medication that has it as an ingredient) and in low doses (anything on a drugstore shelf is probably fine), then you should be OK.
I'm not breakout-free, but things are under much better control than they were in the first trimester. Hope you can hit upon the right solution for your skin...it can take some expensive and frustrating trial-and-error.
Mario Badescu's Glycolic Cleanser and DDF's sulphur treatment mask helped my cystic acne and is safe during pregnancy. DDF also makes a glycolic cleanser but is more expensive. I found the Mario Badescu at Nordstrom's for like $14.95.
My first-tri acne was really bad though and ultimately I gave in and started using Proactiv. My OB suggested it and said it was okay, but I've read otherwise elsewhere. I mainly only use the cleanser (and not the other 2 products), but it works. It has benzoyl peroxide, which gets mixed reviews from a pregnancy standpoint. It did work for me when nothing else would though. (Of course my washcloths and towels are ruined now...)
I hear you! This is the worst! My dermatologist prescribed erythromycin-benzoyl peroxide topical gel; both she and my OB said it's safe during pregnancy. I haven't actually been using it because the smell is too much right now, but I'm hoping once I'm out of first tri (2 and a half weeks!), I'll be ok to use it. It doesn't actually smell that bad, but I'm hypersensitive right now.
Good luck. Yet another joy of pregnancy.