Physiologic Skin Changes During Pregnancy.

Introduction: Approximately 90% pregnant women are associated with skin changes. The skin undergoes profound alterations during pregnancy as a result of endocrine, metabolic and immunologic changes. Some of these are trivial and chiefly cosmetic, producing no or minor symptoms, others can be distressing and/or of major medical importance. For the necessity of proper and complex care of the pregnant woman ,the knowledge about the changes are crucial. The ability of precise diagnosis of physiological skin changes allows specifying the suspected cases of pathologic etiology and referring them to the dermatological referral centers for in-depth diagnosis and eventual treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence and types of dermatological changes in our population. Methods: Pregnant patients attending the antenatal clinic of the Gynecology department in Shree Birendra Hospital, and presenting to the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dermatology, Bir Hospital, for any dermatologic problem, were enrolled. The study spanned a period of 10months (January 2008 to October 2008). We evaluated 150 pregnant women to determine the pattern of pregnancy-induced physiologic skin changes in Nepalese community. Results: Majority of patient developed dermatological changes in second and third trimester. The commonest sign was hyper pigmentation of the skin followed by striae and edema. Fungal infections were the commonest infections observed,Tineacorporis accounting for 10 (6.66%) and tineaversicolarwas seen in Eight (5.33%) patients. Three (2%) patients had Scabies. A total of 3 patients had sexually transmitted disease. 2 (1.3%) had Condyloma acuminate and 1 (.006%) had syphilis. Conclusions: Hyperpigmentation was the commonest sign (87.33%) followed by striae (82%), edema (45.3%), vascular changes (17.3%) and melasma (8%). Varicosities of veins, spider nevi and palmar erythema are relatively less frequent in our population. Medical Journal of Shree Birendra Hospital; Jan-June 2012/vol.11/Issue1/42-45 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/mjsbh.v11i1.7767