It is the most common pregnancy skin disease.
Its cause is unknown.
This condition usually appears in primigravidae (women in their first pregnancy), during the last trimester (preferably in the last month). Small, raised, reddish lesions, causing great itching on the skin. The first signs are abdominal stretch marks that later extend to the rest of the abdomen and even to the limbs. Occasionally, raised patches appear in the form of a welt or vesicles that may coexist with the lesions previously described. The rash is self-limiting, does not recur in the following pregnancies or with the use of oral contraceptives.
The diagnosis is made through the clinical history and a physical examination.
The treatment is symptomatic and involves using high potency topical corticosteroids applied several times a day, as well as emollients and sedating antihistamines.
- Miriam Keltz Pomeranz, MD. Dermatoses of pregnancy. Uptodate. Jun 26, 2017.
- Vaughan Jones S, Ambros-Rudolph C, Nelson-Piercy C. Skin disease in pregnancy. BMJ 2014; 348:g3489.
- Massone C, Cerroni L, Heidrun N, et al. Histopathological diagnosis of atopic eruption of pregnancy and polymorphic eruption of pregnancy: a study on 41 cases. Am J Dermatopathol 2014; 36:812.
- Lehrhoff S, Pomeranz MK. Specific dermatoses of pregnancy and their treatment. Dermatol Ther 2013; 26:274.
- Ambros-Rudolph CM. Dermatoses of pregnancy - clues to diagnosis, fetal risk and therapy. Ann Dermatol 2011; 23:265.
