How To Treat Stretch Marks

The majority of us are likely to have stretch marks already. But if you don't, hurray!!! There are countless products on the market that are promising you the world. They're going to get rid of your stretch marks, they're going to prevent you from ever getting them. In this article, we will discuss what stretch marks medically known as Striae Distencae are, the reason why they form, who's more likely to get stretch marks. 

Would you be able to prevent them? How would you be able to treat them? I'll disclose what your best options are. 

So clinic treatments, home treatments, and afterward I'll tell you when to see your doctor.

You may also like to visit this link afterward to learn more about: 

• 5 Easy Tips & Tricks That Will Help You Achieve A Normal Skin Balance.
• Get Rid of Varicose Veins Naturally 

How To Treat Stretch Marks | How To Treat Fresh Stretch Marks

Stretch marks are super common and they are completely normal, If we take a closer look at the structure of the skin, it has three layers. Stretch marks are a form of scar that forms in the dermis which is the center part of the skin. In the dermis, you have cells called fibroblasts and these cells produce collagen and elastin. So if you think of collagen as like your scaffolding, it gives the skin the strength and the support. Elastin, however, you want to think of like an elastic band. It gives the skin elasticity. Which implies that the ability to stretch and then recoil and snap back into shape. 

So in circumstances where the skin needs to stretch really quickly, the collagen fibers are kind of stretched apart. The elastin fibers rupture and you get a stretch mark. 

You may have seen in different places there are two types of stretch marks. Red and white. It's not that there are two different types of stretch marks but these red and white stretch marks just represent different phases of the same process. In the early stages, when a stretch mark first develops it can look red or pink, or purple. If you've got a darker skin type, then you may not see that redness. You may see it more as looking like a darker brown or a reddy brown.

When stretch marks are at this stage, they can be quite itchy. A stretch mark that's in this red phase is much more likely to respond to treatment. So if you're going to treat your stretch marks, this is the stage that you need to get the mat so that you get a better chance of fading them. After a few months to years, the stretch marks then flatten. They can become hypopigmented. So they're a lighter color than the surrounding skin and they also have a little bit of depression. 

So if you run your finger over the surface you can feel that it's slightly dipped in and the texture on the surface of the stretch mark also looks a little bit wrinkly and it's atrophic or thinned out. Stretch marks at this stage are well developed. They can look silvery-white, an extremely pale brown. They tend to be asymptomatic so the itching tends to have stopped. They don't really cause any problems and people just tend not to like their appearance. 

How Do Stretch Marks Form?

In the first place, it's a combination of genes. If somebody in your family has got stretch marks, then you are much more likely to get stretch marks. It's also a combination of your hormones because there are certain hormones that make conditions in the skin more favorable to developing stretch marks. 

If you are female and you are on a certain medication, for example, steroid creams tablets or steroid injections. And also, certain medical conditions increase your chances of getting stretch marks. And then finally, you need that trigger which is the stretch of the skin which causes the collagen and the elastin fibers to snap. 

This can occur in adolescence when you have a growth spurt. Additionally, in circumstances where you put on weight suddenly. So this could be in the form of fat or of muscle. For instance, if you are weight training in pregnancy, you're more likely to develop stretch marks and this is occurring because the uterus is growing quickly in size and obviously there's also the weight gain which is also stretching the skin. Another time where you can see stretch marks is after breast implant surgery where the skin has to stretch to accommodate the implant. 

I commonly see stretch marks that is quite severe in people that are using skin bleaching creams that you know you can get kind of under the counter that is sold perhaps unlawfully. The ones that have no labels because the ingredients are secret naturally and also they are organic. So these bleaching creams often contain really strong steroids. They also weaken the collagen and the elastin fibers in the skin and they make you much more prone to getting stretch marks. 

You may also like to visit this link afterward to learn more about: 

• 5 Easy Tips & Tricks That Will Help You Achieve A Normal Skin Balance.
• Get Rid of Varicose Veins Naturally 

Treatment

If you don't like stretch marks and you want to do something about them, you have three options. The best option or the most effective option is also the most expensive and that's your professional clinic treatments. 

If you're on a budget, then you can go for creams and lotions which is actually the most popular option. And then your third option is to do nothing. Let them be. Embrace them because they will naturally fade with time. 

If you are going down the option of using creams and lotions, there are only really two ingredients that have been shown to improve the appearance of stretch marks and they are tretinoin and hyaluronic acid. So tretinoin which is otherwise known as retinoic acid is a form of vitamin A that is applied to the skin and vitamin A helps to stimulate your fibroblasts to produce collagen and elastin. So you get the best results if you start using this early on. 

At the stage when the stretch marks are still looking pink or red or dark brown, retinoids can be drying on the skin. They can cause irritation so you may have to build up how often you're using it until your skin tolerates it. And also, you should stay away from retinoids in pregnancy. 

Now you can buy topical retinoids over the counter such as retinol. But it just might take longer for you to see the results. Hyaluronic acid is a sugar molecule that's naturally found in our skin and it's thought that it works by encouraging collagen production. So if you're going to go with a kind of creams or lotions, you really want to be looking out for these two ingredients in the products that you're choosing. 

Professional Clinic Treatments

These are treatments that you get in a clinic that's done by a doctor or a dermatologist or estheticians and there are quite a few options for these. So you've got chemical peels where skincare acids are applied to the skin to stimulate the cell to turn over and also to stimulate collagen and elastin production in the skin. 

We've also got micro-needling where tiny needles are been used to create a controlled injury to the skin then thinks to itself oh I need to repair myself and it will do this by producing collagen and elastin which improves the appearance of the stretch marks. 

The radiofrequency devices use energy waves that heat up the dermis, stimulate the fibroblasts and they do this without harming the epidermis. 

You've got combined radiofrequency and micro-needling devices which give you kind of a more enhanced effect. Then you've got ultrasound which is similar to radiofrequency but rather than using radio waves, it uses sound waves to get a similar effect, and then you've also got lasers. Ablative lasers destroy the epidermis, for instance, the co2 laser. The other type of laser that's commonly used is the non-ablative laser. So these are lasers that keep the epidermis intact for instance, the pulsed dye laser. Sometimes it's referred to as a vascular laser and this is because it targets blood vessels. So this means that it can help to improve stretch marks that have that redness when they are in the early phase. 

How To Treat Stretch Marks | How To Treat Fresh Stretch Marks

Other options include microdermabrasion. This is a skin resurfacing technique where tiny crystals are used to rub off the topmost layer of the skin and it's been shown that this can help to fade stretch marks because it can help to increase the collagen and the elastin in the skin. 

Then we've got PRP or platelet-rich plasma. So you might have seen a lot of celebrities using this. They're sometimes called vampire facials and this is because it's a treatment that uses your own blood which is kind of spun down in a machine and then the plasma part of the blood is extracted. This part is rich in platelets. Now, this plasma can then be injected into the skin or micro needled into the skin, and these platelets release growth factors that stimulate the skin to regenerate and repair itself. 

And then you've also got the option of collagen stimulating agents or fillers. These are injected into the skin. They stimulate the fibroblasts and stimulate collagen and elastin production. So to increase your chances of getting a good result of fading these stretch marks, start treating the stretch marks as soon as you see them showing up. 

Also, studies have shown that the action of massaging the creams into the stretch marks is actually beneficial.

And then finally you should have patience. The process of your skin producing collagen doesn't occur out of the blue. It's something that takes time. You're looking at about three to six months so you really need to be kind of diligent and consistent and patient to give your skin the time to produce the collagen and the elastin and to give time for the stretch marks to fade. So now we've talked about treatment let's move on to prevention. 

Preventions

It's not always possible to prevent the stretch marks from coming. Yet, there are things that you can do to lessen your odds of getting them. Try to maintain a healthy weight if you are going to lose or put on weight. It's better to do this slowly because it gives the skin time to accommodate and those collagen and elastin fibers are less likely to get disrupted because the skin's not stretching so quickly.

Centella Asiatica which is a herb that's thought to work by increasing collagen and elastin has been shown to help. If you choose products containing this again it's worth spending some time massaging this ingredient properly into the skin. 

When To See Your Doctor

If you have stretch marks that are particularly large or prominent and then at the same time you're noticing that you're gaining weight around your trunk so kind of your chest and your tummy area but you have slim arms and legs or you're noticing that you're getting a build-up of that kind of across the back or across the shoulders. If you are bruising easily if your face is looking round puffy and red and these are all potential signs of cushion syndrome. 

Cushion syndrome is a condition that's caused by having too much cortisol in the body and often it's caused by taking long-term steroids. So whether that's injections tablets or using cream and that's because steroids contain a form of synthetic cortisol. Very rarely, the excess cortisol can be produced by tumors but if you're noticing any of these signs or symptoms, then it's a really good idea to see your doctor so that you can have a full assessment. Thank you for reading this article. 

I hope that you found it helpful and if you know someone that could benefit, then please do share it.