Feb
4
Do Pregnant women really glow?
February 4, 2010 |
If a pregnant woman asks her husband, “Am I glowing?” there is only one answer: “Yes, dear.”
Don’t worry about lying; the pregnancy glow actually exists and has a biological basis. In pregnancy, blood volume increases by almost 50 percent. This increased blood volume causes the cheeks of women to take on a reddish blush. Pregnancy hormones also cause increased secretions from the oil glands, and this leaves the face nice and shiny. The end result…a beautiful glow.
But not all of pregnancy’s dermatological changes are pleasant. We already mentioned that you can get hairier. You also may develop spider veins in your legs from the increased blood flow and hormones.
Skin over the stretching abdomen can become very itchy, and you also may be unlucky enough to develop PUPP or pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy. This is a fancy term for itchy bumps that develop in the second half of pregnancy on the abdomen, thighs, butt, and legs of about 1 percent of pregnant women.
