Obstetric Dermatology

There are many changes in the skin, hair, and nails during and after pregnancy. Patients are certainly aware that those changes are occurring, but few physicians and even fewer patients know how to predict the course of those changes. Pigmentary changes occur, but are they permanent? Can they be prevented or reversed? Hair may become thicker during pregnancy, only to fall out in the postpartum period. When will hair stop falling out? Will it grow back? What hormonal changes are occurring to produce these effects on the skin, hair, and nails? Will those hormonal changes affect other organs? Some cutaneous manifestations of pregnancy are common and recognized by most physicians. Abdominal striae, for example, are easily identified, but physicians have many questions about them. Why do they develop? Can they be prevented or treated? Other cutaneous manifestations of pregnancy are less common and recognized by few. For example, pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy is a debilitating condition that is treatable once diagnosed. Even more important than the treatment, the knowledge imparted to a worried mother that her child will be fine and that the condition is se- limited is priceless; but the condition must first be recognized by the patient's physician. All of these questions and conditions are addressed in this extraordinary book. Pigm- tary disorders are addressed in detail in Chap. 2.