Does a pregnancy nose ever go away?

 

Pregnancy nose: on TikTok, pregnant women confide in this little-known symptom

Did your nose get bigger when you were expecting your baby? During their pregnancy, mothers noticed a symptom they had never heard of before: a pregnant woman's nose. However, it is very common, and perfectly normal, explains an expert.

When you're pregnant, you expect your body to change. We know that certain parts of the body, like the belly, chest , or ankles, will gain volume. But the nose? Many mothers-to-be don't expect it! That's why many women have taken to TikTok to talk about this little-known pregnancy symptom, with the hashtag "pregnancy nose."

Does pregnancy change your nose shape? Why does the nose swell during pregnancy?

These short videos almost all take the same form. The mother-to-be shows her nose before her pregnancy, then during. We notice that it is often more swollen and sometimes has a slightly redder tint. While this may seem surprising (because we must admit that we had never heard of it), Dr. Shannon M. Clark, professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Texas, explains to NBC News that this is perfectly normal.

She herself experienced this phenomenon during her pregnancy: "I had it when I was pregnant with my twins. [...] My nose was not only swollen, but also redder." The "pregnancy nose" is due to the changes that occur in the pregnant woman's body: "There are physiological changes typical of pregnancy that occur in everyone, the first being basal dilation, where you have a dilation of the blood vessels in the body."

This happens because of pregnancy hormones and the dilation will cause the blood vessels to take up more space, thus increasing the volume in the places where they are located. And it is also because they are larger that they are more visible, hence this redness. Dr. Clark indicates that the parts of the body that have mucous membranes, starting with the uterus, but also other places, such as the nose, will experience an increase in blood flow thanks to this dilation. If this can bother some people, or even make them feel self-conscious, it is nevertheless a good thing: the increase in blood flow will allow good growth of the fetus.