Any remedies for pregnancy acne?

[tourist.]

I'm totally freaking out.  I have never had acne like this - ever.  The occassional one or two blemishes around AF time, but that was it.  Now my face is broken out as bad as a teenager.  I'm broken out on nearly my entire face, on places that I've never even broke out before. 

Ugh.  This is my second pregnancy, and I had great skin the first time around, so this unexpected.  I know that every pregnancy is different, but acne is always hard to deal with.

Anyone have any suggestions for products or cleansing routines?

[lguse]

I could have written your post. Right down to the great skin during pg #1.  

No advice, just wanted to let you know that you're not alone.  Hopefully someone can help us!

[cicim]

I'm in the same boat, although in my case, I've had acne for years, but early pregnancy made it worse. My skin does seem a lot better now that I'm starting the second trimester. 

It's especially frustrating because all the products I'd normally use are questionable during pregnancy (what isn't, really? - for almost everything I've googled, from tea to essential oils, there is some site that says it's unsafe...argh)

My only recommendations are: 1) wash with gentle soap and don't overwash (I have face wash from Avalon Organics, also use Dr. Bronner's in the shower sometimes).  I tried washing with honey, but that didn't seem to help me.  Maybe because it wasn't raw? dunno

2) moisturize...despite the acne, my face is also flaky and dry right now from the cold weather.  In desperation, I started moisturizing at night with 100% vitamin E (cut open the capsule and spread sparingly onto my skin).  I figured that had to be safe since it's safe to eat! I was just doing this on my cheeks at first (most acne is on my chin and jaw), but I've started putting it all over my face now, though not directly on active pimples. Surprisingly, it seems to help the acne.  It's counterintuitive because it's oily. I also use jojoba oil sometimes, then wipe the excess off with witch hazel several minutes later.  It leaves my skin soothed and more hydrated.  

3) avoid sugar...I wasn't really craving sugar during the first trimester, but whenever I would eat it my skin got worse.

That's all I've got, well, that + a lot of sympathy.  You are not alone! 

[tourist.]

Thank you both for your replies.  :)  My skin seems to be easing up, but there are still some pretty major trouble spots.  I've been trying a toner and moisturizer in addition to my usual face wash and it seems to have helped with the random breakout spots.  I usually get blemishes on my chin, but was getting clusters on my cheeks and forehead.  So weird.  Now I'm dealing with dry flakey skin, which isn't nice either but I'll take that over what I was going on before.

[mom61508]

I dealt with this in my first pregnancy. Before I got pregnant the 2nd time I started milk thistle daily for liver support/cleansing as well as lemon in water first thing in the AM. I'm in my 3rd tri now and I'm having no skin issues at all :) I know each pregnancy is different but you have to think also your liver is doing  a lot of extra work so it really needs support during pregnancy. It could be trying to rid you of yucky stuff through the skin. Milk thistle is perfectly safe during pregnancy. Dandelion would also be good as would lemon water. It gently cleanses so it's not like your doing a serious cleanse ya know. 

[CinCanada]

Check out the acne thread from the May DDC, there's some good info in there:

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1266422/acne

For myself I can't say enough good things about using raw honey - sounds strange I know but it's the best thing I've ever used & I've had chronic low grade acne for years.  For more info you can search the "wash your face with honey" thread on mdc too.  It's an older one but it's like 50+ pages long.

good luck!!

[tourist.]

CinCanada - Great thread, thanks for sharing!  I think I'm going to look for some raw honey this weekend - it sounds like it works awesome.  And heck, if it doesn't work on my face I can always us it for tea or something.

[Bri'sgirl]

I had some acne my first pregnancy, but this time it is pretty bad.  The only thing that works for me is a honey/milk mask/wash.  I take 1 tsp honey and 1 tsp milk, mix well and spread on my face.  You can leave it on for 1-20 minutes.  My face was doing that teenage acne thing and I did this.  By the next morning, I only had a couple of the bigger ones left.  I put tea tree oil on them and they are going away pretty quickly.

HTH!!

[I Need Coffee]

I have been having awful acne this pregnancy. I get big cysts if I don't use anything, so I have been using Erythromycin w/ Benzoyl Peroxide on my face at night.

I also wash my face with honey, and tone with apple cider vinegar, which helps a lot.