# Can you use retinal during pregnancy or breastfeeding?

The convention in dermatology is to avoid all retinoids in pregnancy and while breastfeeding, including over-the-counter ones like retinal, and we follow it. It is a precaution: there is no demonstrated harm from cosmetic retinal at these levels, and there is also no study proving safety, and nobody is going to run one. Skip Coming of Age. Ask your doctor about the rest.

Canonical: https://existentialcosmetics.com/guides/retinoids-and-pregnancy

## Why is retinal avoided in pregnancy?

The caution is inherited. Retinoids as a family include prescription oral vitamin A derivatives with well-established pregnancy warnings on their labels, and the conservative position is to keep the whole family out of a pregnancy rather than argue about which members are fine. Topical retinal at cosmetic levels is not that drug, and there is no evidence of harm from it. There is also no trial demonstrating safety, because nobody runs trials on pregnant women to see whether a wrinkle serum is fine. Absence of evidence in both directions is exactly when a precaution makes sense, and it costs you nine months of a night serum.

## Which of our products are conventionally fine?

Four of five, with the usual caveat that your doctor knows you and we do not. Clean Slate is a rinse-off cleanser. Baby's Bottom is skin's own lipids in ratio. Bright Side is vitamin C, E and ferulic acid, topical antioxidants. Mixed Signals is niacinamide, which has no notable cautions including in pregnancy, with two peptides used at parts-per-million levels. None of these is a retinoid.

- Skip: Coming of Age (retinal).
- Conventionally fine: Clean Slate, Bright Side, Mixed Signals, Baby's Bottom.
- Always: ask your doctor, who has the full picture.

## What do you use for lines during pregnancy instead?

Nothing replaces a retinoid, and we are not going to pretend a peptide does. What you can keep is the morning routine: Bright Side for tone and antioxidant protection, Mixed Signals for niacinamide's tone and texture data, which came from a 12-week split-face trial in 50 women, and Baby's Bottom to keep the barrier comfortable through a period when skin often misbehaves. Sunscreen every morning does more for future lines than any serum. Retinal will be there when you are back.

## What about breastfeeding?

Same convention, same reasoning. Topical retinal is applied to the face at a fraction of a percent, and there is no evidence it reaches milk at meaningful levels, and there is no study to say so either way. The conservative position is to wait, and it is the one we take. If you want a more specific answer than convention, ask your doctor or a lactation specialist rather than a cosmetics brand, which is what we are.

## When can you restart?

When you are no longer pregnant or breastfeeding, and gently, as if for the first time: two nights a week with the barrier cream as a buffer, sunscreen every morning, a month before adding nights. Skin after pregnancy is often more reactive than you remember, and the 1998 trial's finding that retinaldehyde caused less irritation than prescription retinoic acid is a reason to prefer it, not a reason to rush.

## What we made with it

Coming of Age is the one to shelve. The other five were designed to stand alone, so the routine without it still cleanses, does its visible work and protects. That was the point of giving every product one job.

## Related questions

**Is topical retinal actually dangerous in pregnancy?**

There is no evidence that it is, and there is no trial proving it is not. Dermatology's convention is to avoid the whole retinoid family in pregnancy as a precaution, and we follow it. The cost is a night serum for nine months, which is a cheap precaution.

**Can I use vitamin C during pregnancy?**

Topical vitamin C, E and ferulic acid are antioxidants applied to the skin, not retinoids, and they are conventionally considered fine. As with everything in pregnancy, check with your doctor, who knows your situation and we do not.

**I used retinal before I knew I was pregnant. Should I worry?**

Stop using it now and mention it to your doctor at your next appointment. Cosmetic retinal at a fraction of a percent applied to the face has no demonstrated harm; the convention to avoid it is a precaution. Your doctor can put that in the context of your own pregnancy.

## Sources

1. Creidi P, et al. Profilometric evaluation of photodamage after topical retinaldehyde and retinoic acid treatment. J Am Acad Dermatol 1998;39:960-965. (PMID 9843009) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9843009/
2. Saurat JH, Didierjean L, et al. Topical retinaldehyde on human skin: biologic effects and tolerance. J Invest Dermatol 1994;103:770-774. (PMID 7798613) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7798613/
3. Bissett DL, Oblong JE, Berge CA. Niacinamide: a B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance. Dermatol Surg 2005;31:860-866. (PMID 16029679) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16029679/