Women’s skin goes through many changes during pregnancy. The so-called ‘pregnancy glow’ can be attributed to the increased blood flow to the skin, secondary to the physiological changes of the cardiovascular system.1 Soon after delivery, however, women are faced with a sudden drop in hormones, breastfeeding, lack of sleep, dehydration and often poor nutrition, which results in quite drastic changes affecting their skin quality and general appearance.2
Because of those changes, a woman’s body image can be significantly affected.3 One study by Hodgkinson et al. has identified that women experience very intensive societal pressure to return to their pre-pregnancy body, and many start planning to do so even before they give birth.
Some of them describe it as a ‘distressing and fearful prospect’.4 Body image is why we often see patients seeking their first aesthetic treatments postpartum – they want to feel like themselves…
