Motherhood Has Changed Every Part Of Me – Including My Skin

We all know our body undergoes radical changes when we’re expecting a baby but thanks to a surge in hormones, it can wreak havoc on our skin, too.

Conditions such as acne or melasma (a hyperpigmentation skin condition which is exacerbated by sunlight) can often flare up during pregnancy, regardless of whether you have experienced them in the past. This is something I've experienced firsthand.

When I became pregnant with my son in 2014, I knew to expect sore boobs and swollen ankles, but it was the changes to my skin that really took me by surprise. Before I even knew I was pregnant, I woke up one morning and discovered a large brown patch of skin on my forehead. I initially put this change down to a very localised bout of sunburn and tried to ignore the fact that it was the middle of winter (albeit in Sydney) and that the patch showed no sign of fading. If anything, it was getting worse.

It wasn’t until I was around six months pregnant that I learned what the dark patch of skin was. "Oh, you have melasma!" a fellow sufferer said. "Me too!" pointing to the dark patches of skin on her own face, no doubt exacerbated by our sunny, waterside location. Sometimes referred to as 'the mask of pregnancy', I began to feel increasingly self-conscious of my melasma, which seemed to get worse as my pregnancy progressed, something London-based dermatologist Dr Justine Kluk explains further.

"Any skin condition can flare up during pregnancy, but the two I encounter most frequently are melasma and acne," she says. "People who suffer from melasma almost always find that it flares up during pregnancy, if not occurring for the first time ever."

This made sense to me. If I popped out to get a sandwich at lunch, my colleagues would comment on my skin when I walked back into the office, as the condition can be aggravated by just a few minutes of sunlight. The combination of the SPF 30 and thick foundation I was wearing to help combat the problem while hiding it left my skin feeling greasy and clogged. I assumed that my melasma would fade after my son was born and hoped that moving back to the less sunny climes of the UK would help get rid of the condition altogether.

However, when I had a passport photo taken shortly after my son’s first birthday, I realised that not only did I still have melasma but that it was worse than ever. As the image slowly emerged from the photo booth, I stared at it agog. I could clearly see that the melasma had gone from being a patch on my forehead to a sprinkling on my nose and, most noticeably, a dark upper lip, leaving me looking like a moustachioed adolescent male.

Now, four years after the first dark patch of skin appeared, I’m desperate to know if I’ll ever be free of melasma, so I looked to Dr Kluk for advice.

"We have to think of melasma more along the lines of a long-term condition," Dr Kluk tells me. "We know that it is a condition that is predominantly caused by hormonal changes, either due to, for example, taking a contraceptive pill or pregnancy. We know from experience that while you may be able to get it under control for a period of time – whether that’s through skincare, prescription treatments or procedures – very frequently, it does come back," she continues, noting that it’s common for it to get a bit better, especially during the winter months, only to flare up again come summer.

The good news is that there is plenty we can do to manage the condition. "As a dermatologist, we use things like a prescription retinoid cream – a vitamin A-based cream – or sometimes a skin-lightening agent called hydroquinone," says Dr Kluk. The bad news? Neither of those should be used during pregnancy. That said, prescriptions or over-the-counter products that contain azelaic acid are effective at treating melasma and are thought to be safe to use during pregnancy, but you should always check in with your GP first.

As I’m currently breastfeeding my second child, my best options are strict sun avoidance and optimising my skincare regime. "Make sure you use SPF 30 or 50 every morning – the higher the better," Dr Kluk tells me, adding that using a vitamin C-based serum or cream will also help regulate pigmentation and can be used safely during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

While it’s impossible to predict how your skin will react to pregnancy, Dr Kluk urges anyone with an existing skin condition to seek advice from a dermatologist before starting a family. "My top tip would be: if you have the time to plan for it and things aren't great with your skin to start off with, it may be worth giving some thought towards trying to get things as well controlled as possible before you actually conceive," says Dr Kluk. It's definitely worth visiting a qualified consultant dermatologist or your GP, she concludes. "This will help you establish a better baseline."