I saw this article from Fox News on preventing stretch marks, and paused for a second. Tip number one is, "Using Retin A Cream (vitamin A) at the inception of pregnancy, a weight-building program or a growth spurt is essential to keep the skin hydrated and moisturized." Now, I sort of remembered that Retin-A was not supposed to be used during pregnancy because of a risk of birth defects. So I went to the internet and poked around for reliable information. (Here's my love-hate with the internet. I adore having easy access to so much information, but sometimes you find everyone quoting some study and it turns out it was done on stuffed animals by a guy named Hal in his basement.)

So did the report just advocate pregnant women use something that causes birth defects? Accutane, also in the retinoid family, is absolutely linked to birth defects, but when you use topical Retin-A, only 10 percent passes into the bloodstream. Most of what I found says Retin-A is not associated with a higher risk of birth defects, though many people seem to still advise against using it in pregnancy--and actually Fox News advised against it last year. I did find this from a 2004 fact sheet from the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists: "There have been four reports of babies born with birth defects after their mothers used tretinoin during pregnancy. Usually, a few reports do not cause health professionals to worry, but the birth defects reported in these four cases are like the defects seen in babies whose mothers took isotretinoin during pregnancy." It goes on to say this is a very low risk, but that it might be a good idea not to use it. I also found this, which has scariness but in animal studies. So I guess you have to decide if your stretch marks are worth the risk, and if you consider this to even be a risk.

If anyone has seen any reliable studies on this, send 'em along!