What do yo know about LINEA NIGRA?

                                                        Image: Afrik Health TV

•  Have you ever experienced a black line at the midpoint of your stomach during pregnancy?
• Have you ever seen a black vertical line in your wife's stomach during pregnancy that passes upward dividing the stomach into two distinct parts? i.e left and right.
• Have you ever asked yourself about it?                                                                                               

Follow me down and have a concise part of it. The line that appears is LINEA NIGRA Now, what's Linea Nigra? Linea Nigra: is a vertical line on the stomach of a pregnant woman that runs vertically on the midplane of the stomach starting from the pubis (above the private part) to the umbilical region, sometimes it might extend from the pubis to the upper part of the abdomen within the chest region at a space called the xiphoid process.

What causes linea nigra? Linea Nigra is a result of hormonal imbalance that pregnant women experience during pregnancy and increase melanin production pigment produced by a cell called melanocyte under the influence of melanocyte-stimulating hormone produced by the placenta; melanin is responsible for skin and hair colors in the human body, increase pigmentation during pregnancy is as a result of additional melanin that shows up as a dark line in the abdomen. However, it is more visible in women with very light skin, pale white skin, white fair and olive skin color but less visible in women with brown to black skin due to the nature of their skin color; and up to 75% of pregnant women experience this changes not only the mark on the abdomen but there's also increasing darkness on the breasts around the nipples in the areola and some other parts of the body. Meanwhile, when the woman is pregnant all the systems in her body undergo some changes during that period (gestational period) and gradually disappear behind the delivery. However, some changes are visible while others are invisible depending upon the phase which the pregnant woman is either first, second or third trimester such as morning sickness, weight gain, change in skin color, breasts enlarged and becoming more tender, back pain, increased curvature of the spine (lordosis), swelling of the legs, enlarged uterus, heartburn, constipation, visible blood vessels (veins), vaginal discharge, fatigue, hemorrhoids (piles), mood swings etcetera, the changes also varies on individual and trimester. Vividly, melanin is a natural pigment responsible for skin and hair coloration not only for pregnant women but for all human beings, the more the melanin production the more the darker the skin color would be and the less the melanin production more the lighter the skin color would be. Thus, there are factors that influence skin color some of which include ultraviolet rays, ethnicity, heat, age, hereditary (albino), diseases, etc. Exposure to sunlight may darken your skin, the darkness is higher in some parts of the body than others such as private parts, armpits and exposed areas to sunlight are darker than protective parts (covered areas). In addition, the pigmentation increases as individual increases by age, at old age the skin would be darker than young.

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Although linea nigra can occur even without pregnancy in both sexes, the increase in the occurrence is due to hormonal changes during puberty which may decline after puberty, it can also occur due to weight gain, cancer, genetic diseases, infection: fungal infection in particular and inflammation. Concisely, linea nigra is a dark line that occurs during pregnancy on the midplane of the stomach that divides it into two distinct parts, it happens as a result of increased production of melanin, a pigment responsible for skin and hair coloration by the influence of melanocyte-stimulating hormone produced by the placenta. When the line is invisible it is called linea alba which every human being has as a result of the attachment of three abdominal muscles: external oblique, internal oblique, and transversus abdominis muscles (rectus abdominis muscles). It may also occur when not pregnant due to hormonal imbalance, inflammation, and infection.

                                                        Nurse Abdullahi Musa                                                                                                                                 muserabdullahi01@gmail.com