Many people have asked us if they can have microblading when they are breastfeeding. After having a baby, once everything settles down, many of us often feel the need to find small spaces for self-care, reserve moments to feel at ease with ourselves and regain time to read, go for a walk, get back in touch with friends or family and some of us take the opportunity to have a cosmetic treatment.

It is great that you want to take care of yourself and get pampered, so we have decided to write a post with information about the compatibility of cosmetic treatments and breastfeeding.

There are many beauty treatments, most of which are ok to have when breastfeeding. To find out more, take a look at the ‘Can I…’ section of our LactApp app (free to download for iPhone and Android), where you will find a wide variety of beauty and hair treatments and their compatibility with breastfeeding.

Today we are going to talk about a couple of treatments that have been very popular recently and about which we often get questions: micropigmentation and microblading.

Micropigmentation is an aesthetic treatment that allows for creating a permanent makeup effect, but it is also used to achieve visual improvements in scars in different parts of the body for example on the eyes and lips or to redraw nipples and the areola after a breast reconstruction surgery.

Among the techniques of micropigmentation is microblading, which has become very popular in recent years and consists of semi-permanent treatments to redraw the eyebrows or to mimic the hair of the eyebrows when a more dense effect is desired.

These two treatments are similar to tattooing, but the fundamental difference is that in tattooing the ink or pigment is introduced into the dermis, which is a deeper layer of the skin, while in micropigmentation and microblading it is done in the epidermis, which is the most superficial layer of the skin.

Is micropigmentation and microblading ok during breastfeeding?

You have to take into account the same measures as if you would like to get a tattoo: always have it done by following the correct health standards and with the maximum guarantees of safety and hygiene.

In both treatments, different pigments are used, which in some cases can cause allergic reactions and if they are not of high quality, they can contain pollutants or toxic substances, which you should keep in mind, especially if you want to have it done on your breast and you are breastfeeding.

In short, having them done with the appropriate safety and hygiene measures, those treatments are considered safe during the breastfeeding time.

What if I want to reverse it?

In that case, there is a risk that, when removing the pigments with laser, part of the pigments may reach your bloodstream and breastmilk, so as a precaution, it is recommended to wait until you have weaned your baby from the breast, to perform the removal treatment.

It is also important that, if you need to have any pain medication, antibiotics or a local anaesthetic cream at any time during the process, you check if it is safe for breastfeeding on a reference page such as e-lactancia.org, to make sure that it is compatible with breastfeeding and not harmful for your baby.

You can find more information on all things breastfeeding in the  LactApp app, which is free to download for iPhone and Android.