Stretch Marks
How Do I Deal With My Stretch Marks?
Since the diet craze of the 80s and 90s started (and it’s still going strong) people seem to be obsessed with getting rid of stretch marks. Mothers who have just given birth are slimming down and noticing the stretch mark results of their pregnancy.
Even men who slim down are seeing the same thing – parallel lines that form on the stomach, the butt, the thighs, arms and elsewhere.
These are the symptoms of stretch marks caused by stretching the skin too far or stretching the skin just fast enough that the body couldn’t keep up, and it is now trying to grow back to normal.
Stretch marks can stand out! Though it may not be possible to get rid of stretch marks fast or absolutely, there are definitely some procedures to help you get back to looking as you did before.
Can Stretch Marks Be Prevented?
For women who are just recently pregnant or men who are bulk weight training, moisturizers may help prevent stretch marks.
Though nothing is scientifically proven, anecdotal evidence supports the idea that using moisturizers fortified with vitamin A and vitamin E may help prevent stretch marks.
Vitamin A and E are considered essential components and may help reduce the appearance and number of stretch marks when overall body volume is finally lost.
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Watching your weight and massaging your skin on a regular basis will help prevent and improve the appearance of stretch marks. It should be obvious to most of us that watching what one eats should be a priority in such a health conscious society as we live in.
Regulating your weight and overall body volume will help ensure you don’t get stretch marks. Massaging the skin improves capillary circulation, and promotes new tissue growth. So, pass on that cheesecake and get the full-body massage that is long overdue.
Alpha Hydroxy Acid is probably the most popular substance to aid in getting rid of stretch marks on the market today. AHAs are found in just about every major brand of skin cream and stretch mark remedy in the cosmetics section of your local department store.
These acids, derived generally from sugar cane or dairy products, are potent exfoliating compounds. When AHAs are applied to the skin, they break down the proteins that hold dead skin cells together, essentially dissolving the dead skin, allowing newer, younger skin to take its place—skin with a pigment closer to your natural tone.
Salicylic Acid is a rare but equally popular application people apply to stretch marks. Like the two suggestions above, acids of any sort are useful in helping to exfoliate the skin because they break apart the proteins (lipids) that hold skin cells, particularly dead skin cells, together.
Salicylic acids are most often found in products for handling acne, but there are some skin creams on the market that use very mild concentrations to help reduce the appearance of stretch marks, pimples, and blemishes.
Stretch Marks Surgery
For those who are not adverse to surgery, there are several surgical procedures available from dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons that will get rid of stretch marks. The first and increasingly more popular choice is laser-assisted scar removal. Since stretch marks are, technically, a sort of scar tissue, laser surgery can remove the top layers of skin to allow newer skin to take its place.
Microdermabrasion and dermabrasion work in very much the same manner as the laser option, but they use a fine blade (like an electric razor) to scrape away the upper layers of skin, promoting new skin cell growth. Both of these measures are extreme.
But there is one technique that is gaining more popularity with both traditional medicine and alternative medicine professionals; it’s called Non-Ablative Skin Rejuvenation and it uses low levels of light energy to “wake up” the skin cells and cause them to repair themselves and function more like the young skin cells they once were. It’s an interesting technology, and possibly worth researching if you’re serious about getting rid of stretch marks.
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