Is Retinol (in beauty products) harmful for pregnant women?

Really ladies girls got to do what they got to do

I was worried about this as well because I was using Derma e's Vitamin E wrinkle gel on my belly and thighs for a previous pregnancy's stretch marks when I discovered I was pregnant (4 weeks.) I also use Olay's Regenerist line and use a daily multivitamin with 50% DV of A so I was pretty terrified. :)

But, I checked the FDA and they've done some research on the absorption rates of A through the skin and they line up with what Alison was saying: using the creams on your entire body every day is completely safe by one standard, and just over the limit on another:

" This value for total body application is greater
than the daily intake limit (5000 IU = 1.5 mg) recommended by the
FDA for women of child-bearing age, but less than the daily intake
limit (8000 IU= 2.4 mg) recommended by the Teratology Society"

(again, this is for using it on your entire body each day at 1% creme, higher than most body creams.)

And using it only on your face and hands puts you at merely 10% of the upper limit for pregnant women, and this doesn't account for sweating, washing, and clothing rubbing it off, meaning we're probably just fine. :)

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ScienceResearch/SpecialTopics/WomensHealthResearch/UCM247885.pdf

(there are a lot of stats and methods discussions in the beginning; I found the most useful information in the "discussion" towards the end.)

I found a credible source (Medscape)of information regarding retinol use in pregnancy, and here are the important pieces of information:
- "At most, topical retinoids, including tretinoin, adapalene, and tazarotene, deliver minuscule amounts of active ingredient into the circulation."
- "If trying to become pregnant or if pregnancy occurs, patients should discontinue topical retinoids."

Another source (sites credible medical journals for this information):
"When used topically, the teratogenic risk of tretinoin [a type of synthetic retinol] had been thought to be close to 0. According to one source, no cases of toxicity had been reported after nearly 20 years of use. In support of this, it has been estimated that even if maximal absorption (approximately 33%) occurred from a 1-g daily application of a 0.1% preparation, this would only result in about one-seventh of the vitamin A activity received from a typical prenatal vitamin supplement."

This information is just provided to give you piece of mind, as it is best to avoid the topical-use of retinol-containing products during pregnancy. It is the oral-administration of retinol that has been proven to cause severe birth defects.

Please let us know what the company and your doctor says!

I am so worrying right now:(:(:(
I am 14 week pregnant and was using ''Roc retinol anti stretch-marks cream' from almost first week of my pregnancy up to 12 week I was using this cream everyday for legs and bump:( so stupid i am :(
After huge research i know that oral wit A is worst but using creams like this its not good either:(
Cant find % of retinol in this cream on the box, had write to roc and waiting for answer.
Anyone from You had similar experience ?
Gret
xxxx

Just my two cent worth: all of you worried about retin A, don't be, unless you eat a whole tube(yes eat), you have nothing to fear. Retin a contains very little vitamin a in the form of tretinoin, What I would steer clear of and which NOBODY ever talks about are things like LIVER (full of retinol) and foie gras (duck liver pate, so yummy). that being said, I still have a "taste", a really teeny weeny one, but will skip my prenatal vitamin on that day (most prenatals contain a lot of vitamin A, in the form of retinol, instead of the better form, which is beta carotene).

retinol is vitamin A ,and it is highly fat soluble so it can reach the fetus quickly through the placenta causing dangerous tertogenic effects like: heart defectsoral cleft, small or absent eyes & limbs reduction
so it must be avoided during pregnancy espially with ( valproic a , warfarin, isotretnoin) but it hasproven to be safe for unpregnant women unless you suffer from allergie

dr. leena abd el wahab