Winter’s here, and nobody wants alligator skin. Yes, even in Los Angeles we see our skin suffer with the season.

What about skin care products during pregnancy? Blemishes, zits, peels? What is safe to use?

First, most skin care products are safe to use during pregnancy. Topical benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and azelaic acid have not been studied thoroughly in pregnancy, but are all likely safe to use in small amounts.

There are, however, some major categories to avoid:

• Tretinoin (Retin-A), if taken by mouth, is associated with birth defects. Using it on the skin might be ok because only small amounts get absorbed, but I would recommend avoiding it completely. There are other safer products you can use for these 40 weeks.
• Self tanning lotions and professional spray tans use an ingredient called DHA to “tan” the skin.  No studies prove they are safe to use in pregnancy, so it is best to avoid them.

And that’s it for today. Long alligator, short lesson.

Source: www.otispregnancy.com. Organization of Teratology Information Specialists – Great resource to find out what’s safe and what’s not safe in pregnancy.