Safe Acne Medication During Pregnancy for Healthy Skin

The best time to research safe acne medication during pregnancy is before youre pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant. Obviously, you cant control the unexpected and planning isnt always exact. But it helps to be prepared so you can avoid using harmful medications.

Some medications still linger in the body even after prescriptions have ended. This is important for expecting mothers to know since the greatest risk to a baby is during the first month or two. This is the stage when his or her organs are still forming.

Many women are uncertain what acne treatments are pregnancy safe. Make sure you discuss all medications with your doctor before using anything.

Safe Medication During Pregnancy for Acne

Acne medications considered safe for expecting mothers include erythromiycin, clindamycin, azelaic acid, and oral contraceptive pills.

Erythromycin and clindamycin can be used in both topical creams and oral prescriptives. The oral forms of these are antibiotics for severe acne. Since bacteria are able to build resistance to antibiotics, however, erythromycin and clindamycin, though safe, may not be very effective.

Azelaic Acid (Azelex, Finacea, Finevin) is a topical cream for moderate acne with antibacterial properties. There is little risk to the fetus, but there havent been any human studies to provide any useful information.

Despite general belief that oral contraceptive pills for acne will harm the baby if continued, there is no evidence showing women to be at a higher risk for defects.

Unsafe Medication During Pregnancy for Acne

Acne medications to avoid during pregnancy include topical and oral retinoids, various antibiotics, and other prescription medicines.

Topical Retinoids like tretinoin and adapalene are derived from Vitamin A and should be avoided during pregnancy. Tretinoin is related to isotretinoin (accutane). There is risk of these ingredients being absorbed into the skin and bloodstream and causing birth defects.

Oral retinoinds like isotretinoin (accutane, roaccutane) are extremely dangerous and should be avoided like the plague during pregnancy. Isotretinoin is commonly used to treat cystic acne. It is banned during pregnancy because it causes malformations to the fetus. Besides a slew of fetal defects, this drug increases the chance of miscarriage and infant death.

If you find out you are pregnant and on this drug, stop taking the drug immediately. If youre trying to get pregnant, you should stop the drug a month before you start, as recommended by the Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS).

Oral Antibiotics

As a general rule of thumb, oral antibiotics are generally not safe medication during pregnancy, with the exception of oral erythromycin.

Both tetracycline (Sumycin, Achromycin V) and Doxycycline and Minocycline are oral antibiotics for acne that are frequently prescribed for acne. However, they should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding because of the risk of interfering with bone growth in fetuses.

Other Prescription Medication

Sodium Sulfacetamide is a topical anti-infective medication used to treat acne and seborrheic skin conditions. If taken orally it can affect the fetus. Topically, it likely wont harm the fetus, but its risk in pregnancy is unknown.

For more information check out www.your-best-acne-treatment.com, a complete information resource on acne.

Yvette Chau is a freelance writer based in Edmonton, Canada. She provides carefully researched information about acne treatments on http://www.your-best-acne-treatment.com/

Finding the Right Acne Solution
Many people seem to think that because a certain product works for a certain individual, it will work for them. Well, this is not true. When it comes to skin care and acne products and solutions, we would do well to take our own personal physical m...

Acne Prevention Tips
Preventing acne is an extremely difficult thing to do. There really isn't a cure for it, yet it drags yourself esteem way down. So just what can an acne suffer do to help minimize breakouts? Here are some basic tips to help control your condition.Was...

Can You Become Immune To Your Acne Medication?
You've used your brand of acne medication forever and it's always worked. Suddenly you have zits popping up all over the place. But you haven't changed a thing. What happened? Did I suddenly become immune to the type of treatment I'm using?Yes, i...

Hormones and Adult Acne
Are you experiencing problems with hormones and adult acne? Hormones and adult acne can be an annoyance but there are things you can do to alleviate the situation.Acne is a hormonal problem. Hormones and adult acne have to do with the maturation of...

What Causes Acne? Deadly Reasons Why You Have Acne Right Now
So what causes acne? Why do you have it? You see acne might be a reason of natural body causes such as hormonal changes and so on but often acne is a result of our lousy habits. We don't even realize what harm we are doing to our bodies till the time...

Treatments For Back Acne
Acne on the face is embarrassing but during the summer, having back acne is just as devastating. This is especially true if you live near the beach or you plan on going on vacation where you will wear a bathing suit. Acne on your back is hard to tr...

Help! I Need Acne Skin Care Products!
If you suffer from acne, you may need acne skin care products. There are lots of acne skin care products on the market. Which acne skin care products are best? The following list was put together by Teen Advice:Acne skin care products #1 choice: A...

Preventing Acne - 5 Tips
What is Acne - It is a condition in which the skin is inflamed. It occurs because of bacteria that enters into the pores of the skin and breeds. It can happen quickly. But, why it happens is what is important here. There are many causes of acne b...

Finding Acne Skin Care Products That Work For You
Each one of us is different, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the acne skin care products that work for each of us. Acne can be an upsetting condition, and finding a product that makes a real difference to the quality of our skin can be a sl...

Acne Solution - The Secret To Remove Acne Permanently
Read this article if you're interested in removing your acme permanently and naturally! Many people think that acne cannot be cured and they are just born with it but that is not true. Getting rid of acne can be very frustrating and expensive IF you ...

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 12:55 am and is filed under Acne Skin Care . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.