Managing Skin Disease in Pregnancy

This course provides diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for care providers managing skin disease in pregnancy. Basic principles regarding medication safety counseling in pregnancy are reviewed, and the international pregnancy classifications are summarized. Oral antibiotics, including key counseling points for a complicated skin infection in pregnancy requiring second and third line therapies, are outlined. Risks associated with systemic antifungals are detailed, and guidelines for pregnant women with chronic herpes simplex viral infection are reviewed. An overview of the four primary pregnancy dermatoses is described, and the key counseling points when managing an eczematous dermatitis in pregnancy are summarized. The therapeutic ladder for the management of both psoriasis and blistering diseases, including pemphigus and pemphigoid gestationis, in pregnancy is detailed, including implications for the pregnancy prognosis in uncontrolled or undertreated disease. This course is packed with clinical pearls for care providers managing skin disease in pregnancy.

Learning Objectives

• Identify risks associated with therapy for skin infection in pregnancy, including antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals
• Distinguish the four primary pregnancy dermatoses and summarize management of eczematous eruptions in pregnancy
• Examine how pregnancy affects psoriasis prognosis and describe therapy for psoriasis in pregnancy
• Develop a therapeutic ladder for pemphigus and pemphigoid gestationis in pregnancy