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Vegan Pregnancy
Recognizing Changes and Nurturing your Skin during Pregnancy
by Jaqulene Harper-Roth
Throughout our gestation of motherhood, a certain number of physiological and cellular changes occur mainly because of hormonal shifts. While for the most part, it is true that many of us notice an improvement in the general condition of our skin-suit, some bothersome skin conditions can occur. From conception to birth, the transportation of messages from our hormones to our organs, and the gestating fetus becomes highly intricate and involves a whole new arena of skin interactions. It's growth or stretching and reduction capacity is quite extraordinary. Both the skin covering our breasts and abdomen expand dramatically over the nine month pregnancy cycle and then (assuming we are the sole food source of our infant, eat healthy, and do a little exercising), returns to more or less its original size. Skin elasticity, shrinking, discoloration, masks, lesion formation, and itching during pregnancy, has been a constant fascination to medical scientists for thousands of years.
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The pregnancy evolution affects every area of skin coverage, even our hair and nails. Not all the changes are undesirable. If your hair has always been thin and lifeless, being pregnant can make it look lustrous and much thicker. If your nails tend to be brittle, ridged or have numerous specks, being pregnant can make them strong, clear and grow faster. But sometimes, pregnancy skin changes can signal noticeable (sometimes disfiguring) marks, or eruptions that either weren't there before you conceived, or have been exacerbated to a chronic condition, and their appearance, just at the time when you're beginning to accept all your new physical changes, can sometimes cause anxiety.
Unfortunately, most visual conditions, like skin diseases, rather than inspire compassion and nurture, are repulsed, whereas a smooth, healthy skin suit can be a woman's passport to success and admiration, even during pregnancy. Some specialist's feel that if we read the skin's surface like a x-ray, we could learn so much more about what it is trying to communicate to us, even before symptoms become a disease. After all, to read words we learn to recognize letters, so to read our skin, we must learn to recognize the language of why spots, rashes, blisters and lesions form, why they spontaneously spread or disappear. Our skin can mirror changes on a cellular level in diseased organs or even dysfunction of a whole system.
Some of the most common skin changes that occur during pregnancy include varying degrees of itching, stretch marks, masks, lesions, rashes, blood vessel overgrowth, broken veins, skin darkening, and mole growth. Most of these changes seem to have a relationship with hormones, especially estrogen and in some cases, progesterone. Linea nigra, striae gravidanum and melasma are familiar marks that appear during pregnancy. They can occur anytime during the first, second or third trimester, especially in first pregnancies, and can disappear after delivery, or remain for months, even years after.
A progressively darkening and lengthening line, which runs from the upper abdomen to the pubic area, is known as linea nigra. It appears during the first trimester and disappears after delivery. Melasma, (or mask of pregnancy) is a dark patch of skin which can develop either on the cheek, forehead or upper lip. It is such a common skin discoloration, that 3 in 4 women will develop it during their pregnancy and although its cause is still a mystery, it can remain many years after delivery. Estrogen and sunlight seem to play a significant role, and while some of the newer laser techniques can bleach or reduce the melasma somewhat, it cannot remove it completely. An herbal remedy of fresh lemon juice, kaolin, aloe and yogurt has given many women a pain-free, bleaching effect to the area of skin.
Stretch marks, (striae gravidarum), although they show up on the skin's surface, are not superficial scars. They are deep-rooted scars that are formed in response to the pulling and stretching forces and replacement of collagen in the skin memory layer - the dermis. Good physical exercise, a healthy diet (omitting cooked meat and eggs, and all dairy), skin brushing and the application of essential fatty acids, food-resource alpha hydroxy acids and certain essential oils, to the skin's surface during pregnancy, can to a degree prevent them. Some skin specialist's have had some success with Retin-A, as a treatment to fade these familiar (and often despised), pink or purple marks, but there's usually some silvery coloration that remains.
PUPPP (or pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy) is another curious mark of pregnancy that can start in or around stretch marks. It is characterized by small red bumps or large wheals and when severe, the bumps (which for some strange reason do not develop on the face) close together they can form large patches. The itching from PUPPP ranges from a mild discomfort, to utterly maddening. However, it does disappear after delivery. PUPPP pregnancies (although the cause is unknown) can significantly increase your weight gain, result in twin births and be treated (offering symptomatic relief) with oral antihistamines.
Not all stretch marks are associative to women, or pregnancy. Men can get stretch marks too, especially if they're bodybuilders! Starburst striae progressively enlarge as muscle mass in the shoulders, expand with heavy repetitious lifts.
The most common pregnancy skin change (other than the formation of stretch marks) is hyperpigmentation, which is a darkening of the skin's color. The areola, the area surrounding the nipple, the genitals, and the armpits, are the most common areas affected. Regardless of your race or skin color (although black skinned women darken more than white skinned women), there will be some extent of color change, but it is very rare for a woman, to get darker all over her skin suit. Thyroid dysfunction, aggravated by pregnancy has been known to cause larger patches of skin color changes. If you begin to notice a generalized darkening, over extended areas of your skin, see your doctor and get your thyroid gland checked.
The good news is, that more than often, the hyperpigmentation of pregnancy, fades after delivery. But if you're wondering why the skin changes color at all, you'll not be surprised to learn that it's the work of your hormones. Melanocytes are the cells that produce your unique skin, hair and eye pigment. Even though pregnant women have more melanocyte-stimulating hormones in the their bloodstream than non-pregnant women, it wasn't conclusive enough, to blame this hormone alone. Women taking the birth control pills, were noticing skin color changes too. The hormone estrogen, stimulates melanocytes, and since this hormone is also used in birth control drugs, it has been concluded that estrogen (amongst its many other functions and faults) is the culprit behind the skin discoloring factors of pregnancy.
Another pregnancy related skin condition is known as papular dematitis. It consists of very itchy, tiny bumps that can appear almost anywhere on your skin. It has many characteristics that set it apart from the common 'rash' allergy reaction. It resembles scabies and therefore must be checked by a dermatologist, since prompt diagnosis may save the gestating fetus. It can appear during any trimester, with a few spots appearing and increasing in numbers each day. It can last a few days and disappear, or remain for several months, and it is consistent with a low level of the steroid-like hormone, cortisol (although this connection is still unclear). Although this condition will be closely monitored, there is no drug-safe treatment, and has been found to be a risk factor in subsequent pregnancies.
A rash produced by the body's, own immune reaction to a hormone of great quantity in pregnancy - progesterone, is known as autoimmune dermatitis. It is a rare skin condition that can produce swelling in the tissues and joints, with acne-like lesions on the arms, legs and buttocks. Related to this condition is a high rate of spontaneous abortions in the first trimester.
Similar to papular dermatitis, is a condition known as pruritis gestationis. The characteristics of this skin disease is that the itchy bumps appear all at once in the second trimester, with no lowered level of cortisol, and it is not considered, a risk factor to fetal death. Although this condition can cause intense itching, with a yellow discoloration of the skin, it forms no obvious lesions or rash. It is considered a risk factor to premature births, and therefore must be diagnosed by blood tests for normal liver function to differentiate it from other pregnancy related liver disorders such as hepatitis or drug reactions.
Although not related to the herpes virus, herpes gestationis is characterized by similar blisters of tense eruptions on a red base of skin and can often be accompanied by nausea, fever and mild headaches. It is not contagious and is one of the few skin conditions of pregnancy that can be diagnosed by a skin biopsy. Though, not to be taken lightly, herpes gestationis most commonly occurs during the second trimester, and in severe cases, after a few days of burning and itching the blisters can be large and their spread quite expansive. When this condition is extensive there is a considerable risk of illness to the mother, even in extreme cases, her death. Milder cases will disappear after delivery, but the use of birth control drugs can initiate future recurrences.
Cutaneous changes like itching, unusual hair growth, discoloration and nail abnormalities usually indicate visceral disease of a disordered metabolism. Familiar skin color changes like a yellow tinge can indicate jaundice, turning blue can mean that the blood and tissues are being starved of oxygen, and a general pink-paleness, can indicate anemia. Through dermatology research and diagnosis, we now know that abnormalities such as downy facial hair indicates ovarian tumors, yellow fingernails denote chronic edema, and clubbed fingertips signify lung disease.
Sometimes skin signals 'shout' loudly with angry looking lesions and discoloration over the actual area of the diseased organ. Today, doctors are taught to be mindful of skin 'signals' yet the conditions are often disregarded as isolated skin-deep phenomena's while any early diagnosis of an internal disease, can be overlooked.
Sweat and oil production during pregnancy is increased and can promote further skin conditions. Generally speaking, sweating helps to regulate the body's temperature. Eccrine (sweat glands) activity increases in the final months of pregnancy. So, as well, as losing our balance, being over tired and feeling quite out of proportion, we sweat more, too. Regardless of the season, this over production of sweat, in the last trimester, makes us more susceptible to other skin conditions such as miliaria (tiny white-heads on the skin) and dyshidrotic eczema (a sweat related rash). The only areas, of skin that sweats the least during pregnancy, are the palms of the hands.
Oil (sebum) production is regulated and distributed by the sebaceous glands. Its function is to lubricate and trap moisture to the skin's surface. During pregnancy, especially in the last trimester, there is a dramatic increase. Even though doctors are not sure why this occurs, things tend to return to normal again after delivery. Interestingly, the small oil glands called montgomery's tubercles, located in the breast tissue, enlarge and form small brown bumps near the nipple. For some doctors these bumps are reliable indicators that a woman is pregnant, long before a urine sample is taken.
Continue to Part 2, which includes tips for treating your skin and keeping it healthy during pregnancy.
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