mild panic - pro-retinol

[Olivetti]

I am 10 weeks tomorrow, and have been merrily continuing to use Boots Protect and Perfect skin cream, which i have now found out contains pro-retinol. Am really freaking. Have trawled the web....opinion seems divided on whether these face creams are ok in pregnancy. I won't use it again, but has anyone else had advice from their MW on this?know anything about it? Thanks

I dont know this for sure but common sense would say that these creams are topical(skin deep only) and that the retinol is in such a tiny amount that you almost certainly havent done any harm - loads of women use them and dont even know they are pg, if it makes you feel better speak to your midwife and stop using it but try not to worry and have a lovely rest-of-your-pregnancy

I've been using them the whole way through (at now 39 weeks) didn't occur to me it might be a problem. I'm not worried at all because:
a) they are topical so the amounts getting into your blood stream are v small, so the amounts getting to the baby are tinier still
b) a bit of vitamin A even in animal form is fine, its only bigger amounts that are a problem so really doubt that the minisucule amount of vit A in the cream could cause any problems

Don't worry about this. Really. Asked my dermatologist about this in my pregnancies and she said that commercial creams such as the one you mention don't penetrate the dermis (otherwise they'd have to be classed as medicines) hence as others have said are purely topical. Even if you used gallons of the stuff every day you'd be fine. There is a pure form that places like Transform sell, that you have to avoid, but again this is pure retinol and not even close to the type used in the Boots' cream. Hope this helps.

What you shouldn't use are medical preparations like Roaccutane (sp?), which is used for acne. My husband (medical scientist) had a fit when he heard that my sister, who is TTC, currently uses it.

Thanks very much indeed everyone - I really appreciate your supportive messages. It's a real minefield trying to work out what you can and can't do!