Beauty treatments, checked against your health
Know what is safe for you before you book.
Every treatment, checked against your condition, pregnancy or medication — with the NHS, NICE or royal-college source behind each answer. Where the evidence stops, so do we.
Often searched:Laser hair removal, first trimesterLash extensions with dry eyeGel manicure on blood thinners
Safety checker
Check one treatment against your situation
Pick both from the lists — the answer shows the verdict, the reason and the source it came from.
By treatment
Or by the treatment you have in mind
By condition
Start from what is going on with you
- Pregnancy & BreastfeedingSix stages, from trying to conceive to after the birth · 1 page
- Heart & circulationAngina, blood thinners, clots and fragile capillaries · 26 pages
- Skin conditionsAcne, rosacea, moles and healing skin — flare and stable · 50 pages
- Cancer & cancer treatmentDuring cancer treatment and after it, stage by stage · 17 pages
- Infections & contagious conditionsAnything catching — athlete's foot, cellulitis, COVID-19 · 50 pages
- Autoimmune & inflammatory conditionsThe answer changes with your medication, so we ask · 29 pages
- Eye conditionsDry eye, blepharitis, contact lenses and eyelid conditions · 20 pages
- Nail conditionsBrittle nails, bruising, grooves and nail-bed changes · 27 pages
- General health conditionsAsthma, anxiety, reflux and the rest of everyday health · 43 pages
- Rare conditions & special situationsAge limits, disability and the situations nobody writes about · 21 pages
Also on the siteAftercareIngredients A–ZGuides
What an answer looks like
Four words, a reason, and a source you can open.
Every treatment name is a link to its own page. The one that actively helps sits at the top, on purpose. Where we have no sourced answer, the row says so.
An example, taken straight from the page for Second trimester (weeks 13–27) — one row of each kind.
Second trimester (weeks 13–27)
5 treatments · 1 actively helps · 1 safe · 1 caution · 1 to avoid · 1 not yet reviewed
| What we found | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Actively helps | Prenatal / Pregnancy Massage Prenatal massage is actively recommended from the second trimester onwards for stress, swelling, back and hip pain, and sleep quality. What makes it safe is the training and the positioning: your therapist should be certified in pregnancy massage and should work with you side-lying or semi-reclined, never flat on your back after week 20, because of vena cava compression. A general massage therapist without prenatal training should refer you to a colleague who has it. Sources: American College of Obstetricians and GynecologistsMDPI (peer-reviewed)NHS |
| Safe | Acrylic Nails Manicures and pedicures are safe throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding, gel included — UV/LED nail lamp exposure is tiny and localised to your hands or feet. Two things are worth getting right. Ask for good ventilation, because fumes from acrylic products and standard polish are the real concern. And choose a '3-free' or '10-free' polish, which leaves out formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Pedicures are particularly welcome in the third trimester, when reaching your own feet becomes difficult. Sources: American College of Obstetricians and GynecologistsNHS |
| Caution | AHA Peel (Glycolic / Lactic / Mandelic) Light alpha-hydroxy acid peels — glycolic, lactic and mandelic — are the peels with a long safety record in pregnancy, and lactic acid peels are sometimes prescribed for pregnancy acne. That record is for lower strengths, up to about 30%, so ask for a gentler concentration than you would normally have and tell your therapist you are pregnant. Pregnancy hormones also spike the risk of melasma, which makes reactive skin worth taking seriously. Sources: American Academy of DermatologyMDPI (peer-reviewed)NHS Wales |
| Avoid | Areola Tattoo No controlled human safety data exists — trials in pregnancy are ethically impossible, so the studies that would answer this question will never be run. Manufacturers' prescribing information and all major bodies, including the NHS, ACOG and the EMA, advise against elective cosmetic injectables in pregnancy. Most aesthetic clinics in the UK will decline to treat you regardless. Sources: American College of Obstetricians and GynecologistsNHSPregnancy, Birth and Baby (Australian Government)US Food and Drug Administration |
| Not yet reviewed | Aromatherapy Massage We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book. |
How we work
This site is only worth reading if you can check it, so here is what stands behind every page.
Sourced, or not published
Every verdict cites a named source — an NHS, NICE, MHRA, royal college or equivalent publication. Clinic marketing and magazines never become evidence here.
Blank where we do not know
Where our sources have no clear answer, the page says so and shows nothing. Nothing is filled in to look finished, and nothing is guessed.
Written by a person you can name
Every page carries its author, its sources and the date it last changed. Medical review is in progress and shown page by page.
How we decide what to tell youWhat this site cannot doSee every condition and treatment