Expectant mothers have enough to worry about these days. NBC 6 anchor Sheli Muñiz spoke to Miami dermatologist Dr. Roberta Del Campo, who offered tips on skincare to pregnant mothers.
SHELI: What is your advice for a skincare routine that’s safe during pregnancy?
DR. DEL CAMPO: First and foremost, you have to know your skin type. When you're pregnant, when you're not pregnant -- it's important to know how your skin reacts, and when you're pregnant, it's even more important to keep it simple. So, I like to tell my patients, "Keep it simple, stupid."
SHELI: What are the ingredients that pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid?
DR. DEL CAMPO: Number one is a retinoid. So, Vitamin A derivatives at high doses can not only irritate your skin -- and your skin becomes more sensitive when you're pregnant -- but also can dangerous for the baby. So, I always recommend avoiding that completely and using very gentle products, so avoiding high chemical-based products, products that have a lot of fruit acids that could irritate the skin.
SHELI: You’re pregnant and your hormones are changing, how does this reflect on the skin?
DR. DEL CAMPO: Interestingly in two ways, some women like myself became more sensitive, drier and others tend to get breakouts so acne-prone skin, derivative of hormone changes. It’s not going to be the same throughout your whole pregnancy. You really have to see how your skin changes over time and adjust accordingly.
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SHELI: What do you have right now at home that we need to be having in our own cabinets?
DR. DEL CAMPO: Number one is an antioxidant like vitamin C serum, second would be a mineral-based sunblock -- so a sunblock that helps to reflect sunlight, not just absorbing it and scattering it. So something with titanium and zinc oxide and that's a prevention and, again, simple during the day. At night, we want to correct. How do we correct? Again, we're going to avoid retinoid when we're pregnant or breastfeeding, so we're going to aim towards those growth factors or peptides that help to strengthen the skin, make them strong and resilient.
