Red spots on the cheeks during pregnancy. Pigmentation during pregnancy - the war paint of the expectant mother. Masks to improve the appearance of facial skin

03.11.2019

Carrying a baby is a process accompanied by physiological and emotional changes in the body. A woman is faced with an exacerbation of old diseases and the emergence of new ones.

Skin ailments attack pregnant women especially often. Many expectant mothers note that they observed unpleasant red spots and dots on the face, most of which were on the cheeks, as in the photo on the left. They peeled off and dried.

The reasons for this can be different - from hormonal to allergic and hereditary.

Any illness on the face can spoil the mood. The already emotional mom-to-be becomes sad and restless. She worries about where the red spots came from, and whether they will affect the health of the child.

The following reasons can contribute to the formation of red spots on the face of a pregnant woman:

The pigmentation is enhanced by ultraviolet radiation. For this reason, the time spent in the sun during pregnancy should be shortened. About 2 months after giving birth, the spots will disappear. In rare cases, they can remain on the skin for several years.

As a rule, during the carrying of a child, the cause of spots is an allergy, the symptoms of which are most often localized on the cheeks. Spots and dots on the face itch and dry. They can be as small as a grain or as large as a coin, from pale pink to deep red.

The cause of allergic dermatitis can be exposure to the sun or low temperatures, cosmetics or medicines, food. It is important to identify the allergen and eliminate it immediately.

Go to the doctor or not

Consultation with a cosmetologist or dermatologist, in any case, does not hurt. Especially if the stains cause discomfort and discomfort. In no case should the visit be postponed if the spots itch, peel and tighten the skin, the redness sometimes intensifies, the skin becomes rough and rough.

The mom-to-be can comb the spots and aggravate the allergy by bringing in bacteria. This, in turn, will provoke inflammatory processes.

In some cases, a pregnant woman is referred to a gastroenterologist, neuropathologist, endocrinologist. A visit to these doctors is necessary to establish the nature of the red spots. Specialists prescribe an immunogram, blood tests, scraping of skin particles from the spot. If allergy is suspected, allergy tests are performed.

Attention! It is undesirable for pregnant women to carry out provocative skin tests. It is better to limit yourself to remote laboratory blood tests for immunoglobulin.

How to prevent

Prevention of pigmentation consists of several rules. For sun allergies, the main thing is to go outside with a UVA / UVB sunscreen. SPF-factor should be more than 30. The cream lasts no more than 4 hours.

For walks, you need to choose the time of the least solar activity - from morning to 11 o'clock and in the evening after 17 o'clock. And it's worth getting a wide-brimmed hat.

To avoid food allergies, it is necessary to reduce the intake of potential allergens - whole cow's milk, citrus fruits, chocolate, sweets, seafood and fish, etc. Pregnant women need to completely remove too spicy foods from the diet, as well as foods with preservatives and harmful additives.

It is useful to eat lean meat cooked in a steam or in the oven, green apples without skin, stewed vegetables, drink self-prepared natural juices, rosehip tea, etc. A complete list of a hypoallergenic and at the same time complete menu containing the necessary vitamins can be obtained from a nutritionist.

To save yourself from contact dermatitis will help the use of quality cosmetics without parabens and fragrances. During pregnancy, preference should be given to baby creams or special products for expectant mothers.

Important! In the allergic nature of the disease, the identification and exclusion of the allergen will play the most important role.

A lot of confiscated goods and counterfeits enter the market, so if possible it is better to do without decorative cosmetics at all. And it is advisable not to contact pets during the gestation period, so as not to get allergic to them.

A balanced and proper diet and intake of vitamins are important conditions for a healthy pregnancy. In particular, this largely helps to prevent diseases of various etiologies.

How dangerous is it

In most cases, this cosmetic defect is not a threat to the baby in the womb. After the first menstruation, the spots may disappear from the face. For this reason, getting rid of them is not always advisable. Usually the danger is the fight against pigmentation.

If, in addition to visual imperfections, the pregnant woman begins to be bothered by the symptoms of rhinitis, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, and the itching becomes unbearable, the patient may need medication. The main thing in this case is to remember that many drugs are unsafe for the fetus.

Antihistamines can infect a child with toxins, slow down growth and development, negatively affect the weight of the fetus, and generally cause premature birth. The use of many drugs is compatible with pregnancy only in exceptional cases when the potential risk to the fetus from drugs is less important than the potential harm without taking them.

For example, such drugs include Tavegil, Suprastin, Claritin. They easily cross the placenta to the fetus. It has been proven that there are no drugs that are absolutely harmless to the child.

Treatment

The expectant mother should know that it is necessary to apply a cream or ointment for allergies strictly after consulting an allergist. Many people mistakenly believe that, for example, Fenistil-gel can be applied to the skin in any trimester.

In fact, in the first weeks of pregnancy, the drug is dangerous, because it can negatively affect the construction of organs and tissues of the unborn child. From the second trimester, the gel can be used as an antipruritic and pain reliever.

Creams and ointments based on lanolin, panthenol, retinol are safer during pregnancy. They help moisturize the skin, nourish and soften it. These are Bepanten, D-panthenol, Lanolin ointment. The only limitation in their use is the locality of their application.

Attention! Rubbing the products all over your face will irritate and spread an allergic reaction.

Many folk methods are considered sparing. Lotions from curdled milk or kefir, rubbing with ice cubes, rubbing with cucumber juice help to lighten stains. Natural remedies are safe for both mom and baby.

For pregnant women, the following brightening face masks can be recommended:

Sauerkraut mask. The cabbage does not need to be rinsed. It should be slightly squeezed out, placed in a gauze cloth. It turns out a sheet mask, which must be kept on the face for 20 minutes.
Curd mask. It is made from cottage cheese and sour milk with the addition of a small amount of lemon juice. Apply it with a brush or hands on the skin of the face, hold for 10-15 minutes, and then rinse.
Parsley juice mask. For cooking, you need to finely chop a bunch of fresh parsley, pour boiling water and leave to infuse until it cools. In the resulting solution, moisten gauze, spread on the face and keep for 20 minutes.
Cucumber mask. Perhaps the simplest of all. For her, it is enough to grate a fresh cucumber on a grater and rub the face with gruel. It is enough to keep the mask on the face for 15-20 minutes.
The mask is four-component. The composition includes 2 tbsp. cottage cheese, the same amount of cucumber puree and kefir, 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley. The mixture should be applied to the skin of the face and kept for 15 minutes, then rinsed with cool water.
Citrus mask. Allowed if the pregnant woman is not allergic to citrus fruits. The product contains orange, lemon and grapefruit. It is necessary to make a gruel out of them, apply on the face for 10 minutes. For dry skin, the mask is contraindicated.

These simple beauty treatments will help freshen up your face and smooth out pigmentation.

conclusions

If red spots appear on your face, you need to see a doctor in order to establish the cause and get rid of the allergen as quickly as possible. Perhaps a pregnant woman can get by with homemade masks and moisturizers. Most often, red spots disappear after childbirth.

If pigmentation is one of the symptoms of the disease, then it is necessary to undergo diagnostics and start the correct complex treatment. With allergies, red spots or dots from the face will gradually disappear if appropriate therapy is prescribed, taking into account the duration of pregnancy. One way or another, one should remember first of all about the safety of the treatment for the child, because the spots themselves do not affect him in any way.

In contact with

Pregnancy is certainly a very pleasant period in every woman's life, but at the same time, this period is full of surprises, and not always pleasant ones.

Physiological and emotional new sensations, the first signs of pregnancy, various changes throughout the body, in all organs and systems, exacerbation of old latent diseases, and sometimes the emergence of new ones - all these are possible companions of the period of bearing a baby. One of the surprises of pregnancy is the appearance of age spots in the expectant mother. These spots can appear not only on the face, but also on the whole body, in the most unexpected places.

Causes of age spots during pregnancy

There can be several reasons for the appearance of age spots during pregnancy:

Firstly, the color of the skin of any person always depends on several factors at once, but the main one is the concentration of the pigment (coloring matter) - melanin. Its concentration takes place in molecules called "melanosomes".
These melanosomes play the role of a natural filter that protects the uppermost skin layer of a person from the harmful external effects of ultraviolet radiation;
Secondly, since hormonal changes occur in a woman's body with the onset of pregnancy, the process of melanin production undergoes changes. The adrenal glands begin to increase the production of estrogen, progesterone and melanocyte-stimulating hormone.
Therefore, melanin during this period is produced in extremely large quantities, and begins to concentrate on certain areas of the skin of the face and body of a pregnant woman. This, in turn, leads to hyperpigmentation;
Thirdly, hyperpigmentation is manifested brownish spots of various shapes on the back, on the neck, around the nipples on the mammary glands, in the decollete area, on the face (usually the forehead, cheeks, chin and upper lip are subject to pigmentation).
As a rule, hyperpigmentation begins in the second trimester, less often, it may occur somewhat earlier;
Fourth, hyperpigmentation can occur if a woman has used oral contraceptives or drugs for the treatment of epilepsy before pregnancy. Or hyperpigmentation may indicate a deficiency of folic acid in the female body;
Fifth, hyperpigmentation can occur due to abnormalities in the function of the liver, pituitary gland, ovaries, or due to improper use of perfumery and cosmetics. Low-quality cosmetics can also cause skin pigmentation during pregnancy;
Sixth, pigmentation can occur due to a hereditary predisposition.
Increased pigmentation occurs with ultraviolet radiation, from which we can conclude that pregnant women need to hide from the sun;
And the last, as a rule, chloasma (appearance of pigmentation) disappears within the first two months after childbirth.
True, it happens that stains remain for several years. But this is a rare occurrence. If pigmentation gives a woman uncomfortable sensations, it is worth consulting a doctor - dermatologist and cosmetologist for advice.

How to get rid of pigmentation?

In general medical terms, getting rid of age spots during pregnancy is absolutely not advisable, since they have no harmful effect either on the health of the mother or on the development of the fetus. It is best to wait until the pigmentation disappears by itself in the postpartum period.

But, if the expectant mother is still uncomfortable with age spots, there are some ways to remove them that are quite acceptable for use during the period of gestation. Below are several popular recipes that will help reduce the intensity of skin pigmentation in the expectant mother during pregnancy.

Folk recipes for skin pigmentation

Means for cleaning: you can wipe your face with freshly squeezed juice of parsley, cranberries, onions, fresh cucumbers, red currants, strawberries, bell peppers, raspberries. After soaking the swab in the juice, simply rub your face several times a day. It is not necessary to wash off the juice from the skin of the face.

Lotions:

Mix lemon juice with two tablespoons of honey, moisten a gauze swab in the solution, hold it on your face for twenty minutes, then rinse with warm water;
soak gauze in fresh yogurt, apply to face, rinse off with warm water after twenty minutes;
mix one to one milk and sour cream, moisten a gauze swab with a solution, apply on the face, rinse off after twenty minutes with running warm water.

It is enough to do such lotions once a day before going to bed.

Masks:

it is necessary to grind any bleaching berries (the berries are listed above), make a face mask from the resulting gruel for fifteen minutes;
directly lubricate the age spot with fresh kefir for fifteen minutes, after kefir, wipe the spot with freshly squeezed parsley juice;
chop fresh cucumber in a blender, apply on face for twenty minutes. Then rinse off with cool water;
chop the parsley in a blender, put the gruel on your face for thirty minutes, then rinse with cool water.

Any of these folk remedies should be used if the woman is not allergic to any component of the recipe. And in order not to cause an allergic reaction, you must use any of the recipes with great care.

To mask age spots during pregnancy, it is necessary to use cosmetics that are made on natural plant bases. It is necessary to take into account the fact that everything that is absorbed by the mother's skin also gets to the child. Therefore, you should not risk the health of a new developing organism.

Prevention of skin pigmentation during pregnancy

In order not to provoke the appearance of brown spots on your skin during pregnancy, first of all, you must follow some rules:

Absolutely exclude exposure to the sun at a dangerous time - from noon to eighteen o'clock in the evening. At this time, you need to be in a shady place;
Before going outside, be sure to use a sunscreen with a high level of protective factor;
Strictly avoid contact with the skin of various chemicals;
Use only proven and natural cosmetics;
Take multivitamins on the recommendation of a doctor;
Follow a balanced diet, which will contain a lot of vegetables, beets, cabbage, liver, fish products, vegetable oils, cereals.

And the main thing to remember is that any age spots, in ninety-eight percent of cases, disappear shortly after childbirth, so you shouldn't worry about their appearance at all.

Red spots during pregnancy

Sometimes women have spots similar to pigmented, but red in color, on the face and body. In most cases, this is one of the manifestations of an allergic reaction to something. With this type of spots, you should consult a doctor and undergo an additional examination. After it, it will be clear to what the body reacts with this manifestation.

Having eliminated the irritant from the life of a pregnant woman, red spots, as a rule, disappear by themselves. You should not be surprised at an allergic reaction during pregnancy, since the body can present various surprises throughout the entire period.

Many young mothers complain that they have red spots on their bodies during pregnancy. In no case should you self-medicate and somehow mask this phenomenon, even if a rash appears on your face. As soon as a woman in position has noticed reddened areas on her skin, she should immediately consult a doctor so that he can send the expectant mother for examination. Since there are quite a few reasons for the appearance of red spots and sometimes it is difficult for a doctor to immediately make a correct diagnosis, and in some cases such a phenomenon can be a symptom of a disease that is potentially dangerous to the baby's health. In this article, we'll look at the possible reasons why red spots appear on a woman's face, abdomen, arms, legs, and back during pregnancy.

Red spots on the abdomen

The most common and relatively harmless cause of red spots during pregnancy is polymorphic dermatosis... This unpleasant condition occurs due to hormonal changes in the body, which occur very intensively during all 9 months of bearing a baby.

Symptoms

The first signs of this disease manifest themselves in the form of a rash in the abdomen and itching. Then gradually red spots can spread to other parts of the body: arms, back, chest, buttocks, thighs. But the soles and feet with dermatosis in most cases remain clean.

Causes

Most often, red spots on the abdomen during pregnancy appear in the third trimester. Although in the case of bearing twins (triplets) or with a significant increase in weight, this trouble can happen in the second and even the first trimester. Doctors believe that polymorphic dermatosis appears due to significant stretching of the skin.

As the expected date of birth approaches, the red spots on the skin will become less and less, and the accompanying itching will gradually subside. After delivery, when the woman's hormonal background stabilizes, the red spots will go away by themselves.

What to do

Of course, this does not mean that the expectant mother will have to endure itching and contemplate the rash for several months. A gynecologist, to whom a woman in a position should immediately contact, excluding other causes of the appearance of red spots during pregnancy, will prescribe her antihistamines approved for use while carrying a child.

Red spots on the face

Allergic reaction during pregnancy, it can even appear in a woman who has never had one before. This is primarily due to changes in the immune system that have occurred in connection with pregnancy.

Causes

Any food product can provoke the appearance of an allergy, even one that a woman has repeatedly used before, household chemicals, cosmetics, pets, dust, flowering plants, clothes made of synthetic materials. Allergy is a serious disease that manifests itself not only with itching and red spots on the face.

What to do

During pregnancy, the appearance of such symptoms cannot be ignored, since in some cases an acute allergic reaction can cause the expectant mother to be hospitalized, because it can cause anaphylactic shock. And this condition poses a danger to the health and life of the mother and her child. Timely access to a doctor and taking antihistamines, as well as cessation of contact with the source of an allergic reaction, are the key to a successful pregnancy when an allergic reaction occurs.

Red rash on the body

Prickly heat- irritation of the skin due to increased sweating and insufficient sweat evaporation. Most often, prickly heat manifests itself in the form of itching and red spots during pregnancy in the summer, when a woman is forced to constantly wear a bandage to support her abdomen. Also, the cause of prickly heat can be the wearing of clothes made of unnatural fabrics and insufficiently frequent hygiene procedures. To eliminate this unpleasant condition, it is necessary to take water procedures every day and refuse to wear clothes made of synthetic fabrics. It is recommended to wipe problem areas with a 1% solution of salicylic alcohol or calendula.

Red spots on the abdomen

During the period of carrying a baby, the internal organs of a woman experience an enormous load, because, as they say, they have to work for two. In some cases, when gallbladder or liver not being able to cope with the work assigned to them, for example, due to the fact that the child has transmitted the bile ducts, which led to a deterioration in the outflow of bile, or the woman was taking medications, the organs may signal this by the appearance of red spots during pregnancy. Usually, the rash appears on the trunk, most often in the abdomen.

Perhaps no woman will be delighted with the appearance of age spots, but none of us is immune from this. Experts warn women that with age, the likelihood of this skin defect increases significantly, and therefore it is necessary to take care of the prevention of pigmentation from a young age. But doctors also name several more categories of women who fall into the risk group for the formation of age spots. One of the most numerous are pregnant women. And even more: on this basis, some are trying to determine the sex of the unborn child.

So, there is an opinion that a woman carrying a girl is getting a little foolish - she may have swelling, acne and age spots. Such a nuisance is explained by the fact that a girl developing in the womb requires the lion's share of sex hormones, the level of which in a pregnant woman drops sharply. Why, in reality, expectant mothers are so prone to pigmentation, and whether it is worth worrying about this - we'll talk about this today.

Pigmented spots during pregnancy: where and when do they appear?

The period of bearing a child is largely unpredictable. The multiple changes taking place in the mother's body sometimes surprise with completely unexpected manifestations, including not very pleasant ones. One "fine" day, a woman may be saddened to find that the skin in certain areas of her body has noticeably darkened. And it’s also good if the age spot has not "come out" on the face, as it often happens ...

The first pigmentation appears at the earliest stages of pregnancy and belongs to the first signs. We are talking about darkening of the nipples and areolas on the chest, as well as the area of the labia and clitoris. Newly-made pregnant women usually relate to such changes calmly. But as soon as a spot appears in another place, a lot of questions immediately arise: is it not dangerous, how long do age spots last during pregnancy, when they disappear, how to get rid of them, etc. etc.

Pigmentation can appear at any time, but most often it occurs in the second trimester, sometimes in the third, although it may be earlier.

In the overwhelming majority of all cases, there is a chloasma of pregnant women, or "mask of pregnant women", as it is also called by doctors. These spots appear on the face - usually on the cheeks, nose, forehead, cheekbones, under the eyes, above the upper lip, on the chin. They can be arranged symmetrically, take on the most bizarre shapes and patterns. One woman said that she had age spots in the form of drops falling from her face to her neck. For some, they resemble butterfly wings, there are other variations.

By the way, the places of disclocation of age spots can also be the most unexpected. Most often, as we have already said, this is the face, and very often they appear on the abdomen in the form of a strip dividing it vertically into 2 parts. Also, pigmentation of expectant mothers affects the neck, décolleté, back, but it may well be in other areas of the body as well. For example, there are cases of darkening of the skin under the armpits and on the inner side of the thighs - mainly in places where clothing is tightly attached to the skin.

Age spots during pregnancy: causes

This trouble affects many expectant mothers. Pigmented spots during pregnancy are not uncommon, and they do not pose any threat to the health of a woman and a child, and therefore you should not worry. Moreover, darkening of the skin in certain places is the body's natural defense against exposure to ultraviolet rays during the period of gestation.

The appearance of spots at this time is due to hormonal changes in the mother's body. As a result of a number of changes (the activation of some hormones stimulates the increased production of others), melanin, a dark-colored pigment, begins to be actively produced in the body of the expectant mother. Moreover, due to hormonal disruptions, it is unevenly distributed throughout the body. In the places of the greatest accumulation of melanin, pigment spots are formed, which give women psychological discomfort.

In addition, age spots occur for reasons other than pregnancy. Their education may simply coincide with this period, or the special position of a woman may become a provoking factor. In any case, hormones are not the only ones to blame for the appearance of dark spots on the skin. Among other reasons, doctors name the following:

use of low-quality cosmetics;
love of reflective lip gloss (reflective particles actively attract the sun's rays);
perfumes with fragrances;
applying essential oils to the skin during periods of high solar activity;
abuse of tanning - natural and in a solarium;
unprofessional conduct of cosmetic procedures;
taking certain medications (oral contraceptives, antibiotics, antiepileptic drugs);
the presence of chronic diseases (in particular, disruption of the ovaries, liver, pituitary gland, thyroid gland);
diabetes;
deficiency in the body of vitamin and mineral substances (folic acid, vitamin C, iron, zinc, copper);
genetic predisposition.

The cause of pigmentation is not always possible to establish, but during pregnancy it is most often associated with hormonal changes in the woman's body and is temporary.

How to get rid of age spots during pregnancy?

And experts say, and life experience shows that the age spots that appeared during pregnancy in most cases disappear within a certain period after childbirth. In some cases, they persist for many years or disappear for a while and appear again with the arrival of spring, but modern cosmetology offers many ways to remove age spots: mesotherapy, chemical peeling, cryotherapy.

As for the period of pregnancy, it is impossible to completely get rid of pigmentation at this time. But there are safe and effective ways to reduce its manifestation. First of all, you should avoid being under active sunlight and be sure to treat your face and body with special sunscreen cosmetics. All cosmetics should be of high quality, on a natural basis, without hormonal substances, and deodorants and perfumes should not contain fragrances (this is important not only for the prevention of age spots, but also for health in general).

If age spots during pregnancy cause severe discomfort and inconvenience, then you can try to lighten them a little using recipes of folk cosmetology:

Regularly wipe dark spots with a cotton pad dipped in vegetable or berry juice - your choice of: raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, red currant, parsley leaves and stalks, cucumber, sweet pepper, onion. There is no need to wash off the juice from the skin - it is he who acts as a bleach. By wiping the skin with such juice, you can complete any of the procedures for lightening age spots with folk remedies.
Apply a gruel of "bleaching" berries or vegetables to the age spot. Wash off the mask after 20 minutes.
Citrus fruits have a good whitening effect: apply the lemon, orange and grapefruit pulp on a dark spot for 10 minutes, but keep in mind that this recipe is not suitable for dry skin.
Sauerkraut also helps: just make an application for 15-20 minutes.
Treat the age spot with kefir, applying it to the skin in a thick layer for 15 minutes.
Apply a mixture of equal amounts of milk and sour cream to your skin. Wash off after 20 minutes.
The same mask is made from cottage cheese and sour milk, to which you can also add a couple of drops of lemon juice. This mixture should be kept on the skin for no more than 15 minutes.
Mix the juice of one lemon with two tablespoons of honey until smooth and apply a compress from this composition to the age spot. It is good for such purposes to use gauze folded in several layers, or a soft cotton cloth.
Apply a yogurt compress to the darkened skin - for 20-25 minutes.

To achieve a positive effect, all procedures for removing age spots are recommended to be applied in the evening before going to bed. In any case, it is no longer possible to go outside under the sun's rays (even in cloudy weather) after such masks.

Folk remedies for lightening age spots are safe even for pregnant women. But remember that allergic reactions to any of the foods are not excluded, and during this period they are also more likely than usual. Therefore, you should try carefully, first applying a small amount of the selected whitening agent.

Especially for - Ekaterina Vlasenko