Pregnant women with scabies will not cause much harm to the fetus. However, when treating your baby, you need to be careful because some medicines for scabies can cause negative side effects for your baby.
During pregnancy, it is very important to stay healthy. But, if unfortunately, you get scabies while pregnant with your baby, what to do? The shares below of aFamilyToday Health will provide some information about this disease so that you can have the right treatment and prevention.
Scabies is a skin disease caused by a parasite. After attaching to the skin, the scabies will quickly burrow to the surface and lay eggs. Mostly, these scabies will die after a month but their eggs will hatch and form new scabies. The life cycle of these scabies is usually only 2-3 weeks. Scabies is a disease that can be transmitted through casual contact. If you have close physical contact or share personal items such as clothes, towels, and share a bed with someone with scabies, these parasites can spread and nest on your skin. In addition, you can also get scabies from other hosts such as livestock or domestic animals.
After being exposed to scabies, it will take about 6 weeks for you to experience the following symptoms:
Severe itching, unable to control, especially at night
Pimples or blisters appear
There appear zigzag lines with gray-white color on the skin, a few mm in length, at the beginning of the cave there are blisters of 1-2mm, this is where scabies live.
Red, scaly patches appear
Pregnant women with scabies often get itchy soles of the feet, hands, in some cases itching and a rash all over the body.
Whether scabies can harm pregnancy or not is a common concern in many pregnant women. According to experts, scabies does not affect the fetus much. However, it can be difficult to treat scabies during pregnancy because the medications prescribed for pregnant women are often very limited. If you are suffering from scabies, do not worry because in addition to medication, there are many other safe treatments you can consider.
First, the doctor will observe the skin symptoms. Then, your doctor may take a piece of your skin and have it examined to see if the parasites are hiding. If necessary, your doctor may also prescribe a skin biopsy .
Although there are no studies proving that scabies can affect a baby's development, medications can affect your baby. Therefore, if you get scabies during pregnancy, you need to be very careful in the treatment, avoid arbitrarily using the drug without the prescription of a specialist.
Some safe medicines to treat scabies that your doctor may prescribe for pregnant women:
Topical creams such as 5% permethrin cream, 25% benzyl benzoate or 0.5% malathion. These creams contain chemicals that help get rid of scabies and their eggs. Scabies is a contagious disease, so during treatment you should ask family members to take the necessary precautions.
If you get severe, your doctor may give you oral medicine.
Two drugs that you should never take during pregnancy are Ivermectin and Lindane because they can cause unwanted side effects.
If you want to avoid medications, there are a few remedies you can try:
Mix some neem oil with turmeric powder and a little water to make a thick paste. Use this mixture on the skin until the symptoms of scabies disappear.
Mix a little tea tree oil with coconut oil and apply it to the affected area, this is an easy way to effectively treat scabies.
Apply mustard oil all over the body before bathing to get rid of the parasitic scabies that cause disease on the body.
In addition to the above methods, you can try applying undiluted white vinegar, apricot leaf juice or sesame oil to your skin to reduce itching and eliminate parasites.
Scabies is quite difficult to prevent because it is transmitted through daily contact. However, there are some tips you can try to reduce your risk of getting scabies:
Pay attention to daily hygiene to prevent the growth and spread of parasites. Wash hands thoroughly with soap before and after meals, after touching objects in public places… to ensure hygiene.
Regularly clean the house, wash clothes, change blankets - sheets - pillows - blankets, take the mattress to dry in the sun ... You can dry, dry in the sun, heat before wearing ... to kill all scabies and eggs, to prevent re-infection or spread of disease.
Avoid sharing clothing, towels and personal items with others.
Stay away from contaminated areas such as sewers, ditches or unsanitary waste to limit the infection of scabies parasites.
Take a shower, dry well before applying or spraying any medications prescribed by your doctor. Apply, spray all over the body, from neck to feet, preferably at night before bed. The drug can be applied 2-3 times per day, continuously for 10 - 15 days.
The drug must be in contact with the skin for enough time. For pregnant women, most medications are required to be in contact for 12 hours before taking a shower and then washing off with soap.
Through the above sharing, you must have had some more useful information about the situation of pregnancy scabies. If you are still wondering, please see your doctor for advice.
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