Pregnancy and tanning

Pregnancy and tanning in my opinion can go hand in hand in a healthy manner if you are careful. Once pregnant, my mind shifted immediately to the health and well-being of this other tiny creature forming inside my belly. Being outdoors and embracing the sunshine seemed a really healthy thing to do, but tanning was an entirely different thing.

Tanning has 3 options...

Outdoors in the sunshine

The best part about this is the Vitamin D you will create through your skin when exposed to the sun's UVB rays while unprotected via sunscreen, protective clothing, umbrellas or such. This is such a vital vitamin, or more technically a hormone, for best health, you can only boost your child's health potential by providing extra Vitamin D.

You only need 10 - 20 minutes a day to obtain a good boost of vitamin D, so for the rest of the time spent outdoors, make doubly sure not to get sun burnt and choose a sunscreen that is non-toxic and protects you from both the UVA rays as well as the standard UVB rays.

It is also especially important to avoid excessive temperatures during your first trimester so over-doing the sunshine is a real NO. Another area of concern where too much heat is concerned, is that later in the pregnancy cycle, excessive heat can trigger premature labour.

Skin Discoloration during pregnancy and tanning

While pregnant, your skin becomes more sensitive to the sun, which increases your chance of rashes as well as chloasma, which are the dark patches on the face often accompanying pregnancy or even during hormonal control through The Pill. The main cause here is sunlight - increase the intensity and hello blotchy skin!

Pregnancy and tanning and the Tanning Salon

When considering pregnancy and tanning, sunbeds may be even more dangerous than previously feared. The UVA rays, being the main type of ultraviolet light emitted by tanning devices, has been found to cause the type of DNA damage that can lead to cancer. (Tewari A, Sarkany RP and Young AR. UVA1 Induces Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers but Not 6-4 Photoproducts in Human Skin In Vivo. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, October 6 2011).

It is actually the UVB ray tanning bed that you should look for if you want to use a tanning salon when considering pregnancy and tanning . This means you need to look for the older type machines as they mostly use UVB rather than UVA ray lamps.

In addition, the older low density variety is better for you than the more modern, high density tanning beds as they are not so intense. It is asking for trouble if you tan under lamps that are that much stronger than the UV rays provided by the natural sun's rays. Any damage you do to yourself, will affect your baby indirectly and there really is no telling how much, so it seems a no-brainer not to damage yourself?

Self tanner

Self tanners contain the active agent dihydroxyacetone (DHA). This ingredient works via a chemical reaction with the most superficial cells of the outer layer of your skin - the epidermis - to induce a color change. DHA has been listed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1973, and has been used in cosmetic preparations for almost 30 years. It is also approved as safe by the American Academy of Dermatology. This doesn't mean you can take it at face value that all the self tanners out there are safe and healthy for your use when you are pregnant and wanting to make sure not only your child's but your own health is secure.

DHA is actually a colorless chemical derived from glycerin, that interacts with the amino acids in dead skin cells to produce a brown color change. Since these dead skin cells are constantly being shed, it does not penetrate into the blood or even lower levels beneath the epidermis. The color change produced by DHA usually lasts about five to seven days, but in some cases up to ten. Reapplication of a self tanner every few days afterwards, will maintain your bronzed appearance.

As DHA is not absorbed through the skin into the body and has no known toxicity, it is thought to be harmless for pregnant women to use if they would like to obtain a tan. There are other ingredients in the self tan formula that you need to check out as there are many cosmetics out there today that are proven to be using very unhealthy ingredients.

However, regardless of whether or not they contain toxic ingredients or not, many health care providers will encourage you to wait until after the first trimester to use a self tanner product, just to play it safe.

Tanning pills for pregnancy and tanning: an unsafe option

Tanning pills are not considered safe for use while pregnant. These contain canthaxanthin, which is an ingredient implicated in causing hives and drug induced hepatitis. These pills are actually not approved for sale in the United States at all.