728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
Get Pregnancy Information
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Health and Physical Changes › Annoying Acne

Annoying Acne

Why Pregnancy Can Aggravate Acne

By Jacqueline Bodnar

Pages:  1  2  3  

When I was pregnant with my two children, there were times that I felt like I was going through puberty all over again. And not just because certain parts of my body were undergoing some major changes, but because I had acne like I did back in high school.

Having a pimple, or three, on your chin is one sure-fire way to draw attention to the fact that your hormones are in flux, and to leave you feeling a little more uncomfortable on top of it all. Hormone levels during pregnancy elevate, and two of the things believed to be the result of this are skin changes and acne.

Luckily, I wasn't alone. As it turns out, many women suffer from increased acne during pregnancy.

According to a report in the Archives of Dermatology, up to 65 percent of the women surveyed believe there was a change in their acne during their pregnancies. The interesting thing, however, is that not all women suffered from more acne during pregnancy. They found that around 41 percent of the women reported that their acne improved while they were pregnant, while only 29 percent believed that it got worse.

It is believed that up to a third of all women have worsened acne while they are pregnant. This leaves a lot of women wondering why, what they can do to get rid of it and whether there's a way to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Why Acne Becomes Visible
According to the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, it's believed that the sebaceous glands are activated to grow and produce sebum (oil) with either increased male hormone or increased sensitivity of the androgen receptors on sebocytes (oil-making cells in our hair follicles). While all women make some androgens in their ovaries and adrenal glands, the hormonal balance during pregnancy can be altered to make more male hormones, to increase the sensitivity of the hormone receptors or both.

"Unfortunately, just making more oil is not enough to cause acne, so the story becomes more complex," says Dr. Lawrence Mark, assistant professor of dermatology at Indiana University's School of Medicine. "For reasons not yet known, the skin around hair follicles (maybe also hormonally related) does not slough off as well, and this causes a clog in the hair follicle pore (blackheads and whiteheads)."


Pages:  1  2  3  

Want to see more?

Comments

There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to add a comment.

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.