Saved my skin. I discontinued my acne regimen when my husband and I were trying to conceive. By the time I was about 3 months along, I had huge, angry, cystic acne that was painful and humiliating. I tried a different brand of pregnancy safe acne treatment and it did nothing. Dermalmd blemish serum helped a lot! My skin isn't perfect (it never has been) but it's much better, and the occasional breakout I do get, is much smaller and more manageable.

Ugh, sorry, just saw this thread is two years old. So annoying!!!

Anonymous wrote:Silent scream. OP here. Unfortunately, no, we're not able to get cortisone shots during pregnancy. In fact, my OB has a stricter rule of no acne medication period - which is different than what I've read online and what my friends have done..aaand what I've already done since I stupidly bought $100 worth of different products for this thing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

So, guess I just have to live with this massive Krakatoa on my nose and hope it gets better. It's huuuuge. I'll try all the other natural treatments folks suggested. Thanks for your help!!

Try the Mario Badescu sulfur-based spot treatment. It's safe during pregnancy and gets rave reviews online from pregnant women. It's supposed to dry them up more quickly.

I was the same way with my first pregnancy and my dermatologist recommended against any prescriptions and specifically told me not to use salicylic acid or anything with retinol. She just had me switch to Cetaphil and drink lots of water (which you should be doing anyway!). Switching to Cetaphil alone helped me tremendously (I use an Alba brand moisturizer).

Anonymous wrote:Silent scream. OP here. Unfortunately, no, we're not able to get cortisone shots during pregnancy. In fact, my OB has a stricter rule of no acne medication period - which is different than what I've read online and what my friends have done..aaand what I've already done since I stupidly bought $100 worth of different products for this thing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

So, guess I just have to live with this massive Krakatoa on my nose and hope it gets better. It's huuuuge. I'll try all the other natural treatments folks suggested. Thanks for your help!!

OP - I'm sorry. I had the opposite- an acne problem most of my life (bad enough that I used Accutane as a teen) Great skin during pregnancy and after. Everyone's hormones are so different.
Acne sucks and I know when you're pregnant, you have enough to deal with. Commiserating from one acne sufferer to another.

I just found out I am about 2 weeks pregnant and I knew it because my cysts came out. I have been putting manuka honey on them and over night, the inflammation is reduced a bit, along with the pain. This is better than nothing!

I have been using Belli anti-blemish face wash for about a week and it has worked amazing.

It immediately cleared up a cluster of regular zits that popped up on my forehead and reduced a cystic zit on my chin (still kind of there but much smaller). I've only gotten 1 regular zit since I started using it.

I got it at buy-buy baby in a kit (with a sulfer spot treatment) for like $30. Totally worth it.

Anonymous wrote:is it possible that a specific estrogen in food is causing the cystic acne? I ask because I discovered (by doing a reverse elimination test, that is, I made certain that I ate the food) that edamame gives me cystic acne on my chin.

Are you eating a large amount of tofu? Soy? In my case, I was binging on edamame ... Couldn't get enough! I'd never, ever had acne of any sort and then suddenly, at 37, had huge, painful cysts all over my chin.

No edamame, no cystic acne for me. Checked this out with my doctor who was ready to write me a Rx for antibiotics to take daily (!) as a preventative measure. I asked what else he'd recommend and that's when I asked about my soy intake. Hope it is as simple for you...pregnancy and peri menopausal hormones (in my case) can wreak havoc on your skin.

Interesting. I eat one large carrot a day because it really helps my chin acne. I just looked it up and it has antiestrogen properties. So I would say yes!

I get those too. I have a Tanda zap device and I think it helps, but during pregnancy here's my spot treatment regimen: dab rubbing alcohol on the zit with a q-tip. Then I use the Tanda zap on the zit. Then I cover the zit with sulfur mask and go to bed. When I wake up the next morning the zit is usually much smaller and less red. You can use the Tanda again in the am. If you have a ton of cysts it's probably not going to be effective, but it has been working pretty well for me for one or two at a time.

Go to a derrmatologist.

Boscia Willow Bark acne treatment. Run to Sephora now!

is it possible that a specific estrogen in food is causing the cystic acne? I ask because I discovered (by doing a reverse elimination test, that is, I made certain that I ate the food) that edamame gives me cystic acne on my chin.

Are you eating a large amount of tofu? Soy? In my case, I was binging on edamame ... Couldn't get enough! I'd never, ever had acne of any sort and then suddenly, at 37, had huge, painful cysts all over my chin.

No edamame, no cystic acne for me. Checked this out with my doctor who was ready to write me a Rx for antibiotics to take daily (!) as a preventative measure. I asked what else he'd recommend and that's when I asked about my soy intake. Hope it is as simple for you...pregnancy and peri menopausal hormones (in my case) can wreak havoc on your skin.

My ob and derm both say it's perfectly safe to use cortizone injections while pregnant. I'm 14 weeks and would like to make sure that it's ok. I know my doctors are saying that it is ok just would like some reassurance from someone that has done it.

My ob and derm both say it's perfectly safe to use cortizone injections while pregnant. I'm 14 weeks and would like to make sure that it's ok. I know my doctors are saying that it is ok just would like some reassurance from someone that has done it.

My daughter had the worst case during her pregnancy that her derm had ever seen. He told her there was no drug she could take during pregnancy. She did use Acutane after she was done nursing. Her beautiful skin is all scarred now so shes looking into laser treatment. It is so sad what happened to her face....her skin was pretty normal before pregnancy.

On the up side, she had the most beautiful, healthy baby boy so she's happy. My advice if you r pregnant, go to a dermatologist and take his advice. I know from her how painful the vulgar type cysts are and how disfiguring they are but eventually you can treat them. I honestly had never seen anything like my daughter had. She's a strong person and even with the scars now she looks pretty good with makeup and her boy who is 4 now is one really beautiful kid