Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Pregnancy woes

Pregnancy wreaks havoc on one's hormones. I know some women who haven't had skin problems when they were in their teens but when they became pregnant...boom! The breakouts would appear! And since they were pregnant, they couldn't use adult acne treatments yet especially those containing tretinoin or other potentially teratogenic products. 

I am so glad that I didn't have acne problems when I was pregnant.  I used to have really bad acne when I was still in medical school and most especially when I was in 4th year (clerkship) due to hormonal imbalance.  I know so because they were finally controlled by birth control pills.  Sigh.  I wish it was controlled before deep seated scars were left on my skin.  I am painfully embarrassed about my much-less-than-perfect skin.  That's why I'm so happy that pregnancy did not give me pimples at all!  Yey!  Stretch marks, nausea, vomiting, constipation --- yes, but no acne!

The saving grace for most pregnancy symptoms and conditions are that they are self-limiting.  Once the hormones settle down, you normalize.  And, of course, the anticipation of having a baby definitely makes all these temporary "setbacks" and discomforts so worth it!