Kind of dumb question about Retinol

[Ceci]

I am not sure if this belongs here or in the coffee house so please move accordingly...

I know that you are not supposed to use Acutane while pregnant for obvious reasons, but what about over the counter creams that contain retinol? Just to be safe I stopped using mine. Afterall, my laugh lines are not as important as my baby's health but it still left me wondering about its safety.

Also, isn't retinol a form of vitamin A? How is that dangerous? Is it b/c it is concentrated or is it not really vitamion A but just derived from vitamin A?

[1stimestar]

In my Medications and Mother's Milk it has a Pregnancy Catagory Risk of level A.

Vit. A (retinol) is a typical retinoid. It is a fat soluble vitamin that is secreted into human milk and primarily sequestered in high concentrations in the liver (90%). Retinol is absored in the small intestine by a selective carrier-mediated uptake process. Levels in infnts are generally unknown. The overdose of Vit. A is extremely dangerous and adults should never exceed 5000 units/day. Use normal doses. DO NOT use maternal doses > 5000 units / day. Mature human milk is rich in retinol and contains 750 */Liter (2800 units). Infants do not generally require Vit. A supplementations.