Everything You Need to Know About Linea Nigra, the Line Around Your Belly

When you are pregnant, you will start observing several changes in your body that happen mostly due to hormonal changes. While some of these changes are subtle or do not show on your body such as mood changes, aches, etc. others do. Changes such as weight gain, breast enlargement, baby bump, and Linea Nigra are common and highly observable. While there is nothing you can do to completely avoid these changes, you certainly can manage them better.
Linea Nigra is one such change that can annoy mothers as it might not go away and can ruin your summer bikini look. To understand how to manage this change, let us first talk about what this line represents.

Linea Nigra

Linea Nigra is a vertical line that shows up on the belly and is considered to be a pregnancy trademark that shows up on pregnant women. This line usually starts from your abdomen and goes all the way down to your pubic area. Linea Nigra is usually more prominent on darker skin.
This line is always present in the body but gets highlighted during pregnancy as the stomach starts to stretch. This line will start getting darker by the time you reach your second trimester. This line is also affected by pregnancy hormones as it causes your skin to become hyperpigmented, or darkened.

What can you do?

While there is no effective way to avoid Linea Nigra to appear on your body, you can follow these tips to make it less pronounced.

• Covering up your skin when you go outside will help avoid discoloration of your skin.
• UV rays can intensify the darkening of the skin which will make the Linea Nigra more prominent.
• Eating healthy food can also help make the Linea Nigra less prominent.

A folic acid deficiency can cause hyperpigmentation which in turn makes the line appear more drastically. Make sure to eat green vegetables, and fruits and consume your prenatal vitamins.
Following these tips can help to make the Linea Nigra less prominent. There is no proven way to avoid this from happening altogether. However, the visibility of Linea Nigra varies from person to person according to their skin color and health.
Well, you might be glad to know that Linea Nigra is not permanent. It soon starts to disappear after you give birth. Generally, you will start seeing it disappearing slowly after a few months of your delivery. So, no matter how weird it might look, you should enjoy it as it is a part of the process and your pregnancy journey.

References

1. Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2008. (2008). The clinical study of linea nigra in pregnancy. ogscience.org

2. Dabette, Kharkongor Larisa; Bijayanti, Devi Th.; Hafi, Bishurul N. A.; Singh, Ranjit L. (2018). Skin Changes during Pregnancy: A Study from Northeast India. journals.lww.com