Remove Stretch Marks Is It Worth The Bother?

Perhaps rarely thought of as an organ, the skin in fact accounts for about 16% of body weight. From the paper thin 0.05mm thickness on the eyelids to as much as 30 times that on the soles of the feet, the overall area of the skin is about two metres. Its functions as regulator and protector of the impact of the environment on the internal organs are numerous.

These roles vary from transforming ultraviolet radiation in sunlight into vitamin D, necessary for the absorption of calcium, protecting the internal organs and tissue from damage or attack by hostile bacteria, mediating the facts of the external environment to the brain through the nervous system, and regulating the temperature of the body core by the expansion and contraction of blood capillaries and sweat glands.

Our perception of the condition of our skin can play a major part in our psychological health, reflecting as it does so much of our background and history. In a society in which we are constantly bombarded by manipulated and airbrushed images of perfect bodies, a healthy self image can be hard to maintain.

The desire to come at least a little closer to the perfection that is dangled so unrealistically before us, to remedy the acne, dandruff or other blemishes of life, from getting rid of stretch marks, to gaining a perfect tan, is responded to by much media coverage and advertising.

Although famous for producing exceptionally healthy-looking skin, many women are surprised by the less enviable reactions of their skins to pregnancy: darkened pigmentation on nipples, moles and freckles caused by melanocyte-stimulating hormone, raised oestrogen levels sometimes leading to varicose veins and swollen ankles, and stretch marks on the growing breasts and abdomen.

Oestrogen and MSH levels return to normal after pregnancy, and their side effects consequently disappear, although they are likely to reoccur in subsequent pregnancies. The same is unfortunately not true of stretch marks. These striae gravidarum fade from their original red to white or silvery white, but getting rid of stretch marks is a difficult proposition.

Although diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices, and even surgery, all feature as recommended solutions, perhaps the simplest and most common approach to tackling remove stretch marks is through creams, extensively advertised, enticingly packaged, and variously priced. Moisturising ingredients and those containing vitamins will do no harm, whilst others claim to speed the healing process.

Few manufacturers would claim to have a cream for totally getting rid of stretch marks, although many assert considerable success if the cream is applied whilst the marks are still new and showing as red or purple. Perhaps the best advice after that is to enjoy your baby and a healthy life, and let time do the rest.

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Is Getting Rid Of Stretch Marks Easy?

Lots of people think that they will get stretch marks from gaining weight; what they dont seem to realise is that stretch marks can also be a problem if you lose weight rapidly. If your skin is used to being stretched and has lost its elasticity, then if you lose a lot of weight over a short period of time, stretch marks can appear.

The formal medical name given to stretch marks is "striae". There are different medical terms for different types of stretch marks, for example "striae atrophica" and "striae distensae". Stretch marks all start off looking like parallel lines or bands of thin red streaks and, over time, change to look like a whitish scar.

Although you can get stretch marks almost anywhere on your body, they are most likely to develop where you have most fat. Because your skin is under most strain where fat is stored, this means that most people who get stretch marks find them on their legs, hips, bottom and tummy.

Although stretch marks can cause a lot of distress to people because of their unsightly appearance, they do not cause any risk to health and do not mean that you have a problem with your skin that requires medical attention. However, if stretch marks appear which are not caused by rapid weight change, you should seek medical advice.

One of the main areas where stretch marks appear is below the navel (or tummy button) and, although this may seem to be a drastic solution, these may be permanently removed through a cosmetic surgery procedure known as a tummy tuck (or abdominoplasty to give the process its full medical name).

Up to 90% of women will develop stretch marks as a result of pregnancy. These marks often appear in the sixth or seventh month of pregnancy and the current medical opinion is that they are caused not only by the skin stretching as you put on weight, but also that hormones play a part.

Using very expensive skin preparations which promise to remove all trace of stretch marks can be not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Lots of people are now turning to less expensive ways of reducing the appearance of these marks such as improving circulation by regularly massaging the affected areas.

Common sense dictates that if you keep your body healthy, your skin will be healthy too and this will mean that the dreaded stretch marks don't appear so prominent. Drink plenty of water and follow a sensible, balanced diet and you will not only feel better, but also improve the appearance of your skin.

Stretch Mark Removal products - Which ones really work?

What Works Best For Removing Stretch Marks?

Oh, how ugly stretch marks are, and oh, how we hate them! Stretch mark removal becomes one of the most important things in the world when you actually have these ugly bluish-purple lines on your body, whether you have them around your stomach, and on your hips and thighs, which is where most women get them, or on your chest shoulders and back which is where men tend to suffer. I've even heard people getting stretch marks on the face. Oh yuck!

You can get stretch marks at any age, whatever body type you have and whether you are fat or thin. Some groups of the population are more susceptible than others, such as adolescent girls and boys (mainly boys), females of any age during pregnancy and bodybuilders who make their muscles grow much larger than normal through exercising with heavy weights. Use of muscle-bulking steroids for competition are also likely to make this problem worse.

The path you take to removing stretch marks will depend on several factors; the severity of your problem, the state of your health and how much money you want to spend getting rid of your stretch marks. If money is no object, plastic surgery involving cutting and tightening of the skin around the affected area can produce good results and can be combined with a tummy tuck. There is obviously some pain and recovery time associated with this option and the less radical option would be to have laser surgery which produces less discomfort and can also show good results.

Stretch marks do not hurt when they appear, although they can make your skin feel a little tight and itchy - a common problem during pregnancy, as your entire body goes haywire getting ready for your baby. Stretch marks that appear with no warning should always be checked out by your doctor as there is a slight chance that you may have developed a disease called Cushing's syndrome, where your endocrine system produces too much of a natural steroid, damaging the lower levels of skin and causing the tell-tale lines of stretch marks to appear.

Cushing's disease, or Cushing's syndrome as it is sometimes called occurs when some small glance near the kidneys brackets the adrenal glands produce too much of a hormone called cortisol. Overproduction of cortisol can result in serious medical problems including diabetes, dysmenorrhoea in women, hypertension and the appearance of stretch marks due to tears occurring in the deeper levels of the skin. Stretch mark removal must not be attempted if there is any suspicion of Cushing's disease being present, however Cushing's syndrome is not common.

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Why Spend A Fortune On Removing Stretch Marks

Stretch marks, taken literally, does not actually mean that the skin has stretched; these tell-tale red or violet marks that appear on certain areas of the body and eventually fade to white are signs of the deeper skin levels tearing, with the damage being visible to the naked eye.

Much time has been spent and much research has been done on how to remove stretch marks, with some remedies being more successful than others, and it is true to say that the majority of women will sustain stretch marks at some time during their life, whether stretch marks appear in adolescence or in pregnancy; and just under half of all young men in their teens will also get them.

For women, stretch marks usually appear on the lower stomach and the hip, thigh and bottom area, with the chest and arms sometimes being affected also, while men usually get stretch marks on their chest, arms or back - especially during rapid periods of natural growth or through weight training or taking steroids.

Both sexes are usually keen to find a product that will remove stretch marks, the Latin name of which is striae distensae, even though they are largely harmless, as they spoil the appearance of the skin, causing lack of confidence and frequent embarrassment in both men and women.

Stretch marks occur when excessive levels of glucocorticoid hormones are produced within the body, preventing the supportive elastin and collagen layers from doing their job of repairing and protecting the dermis (lower levels of skin).

If insufficient collagen and elastin are produced, the skin levels below the surface, known as the dermis, are likely to tear; and to make things worse top layer of skin becomes thinner making the damage visible and the skin appear to have an unsightly rippled effect.

Stretch Marks are most likely to occur in adolescence and pregnancy, but the hormones that cause the damage can also be produced by being obese, yo-yo dieting and by a disorder called Cushing's disease; the presence of this latter medical condition must be ruled out by a doctor before undertaking any treatment to remove stretch marks.

It is not easy to remove stretch marks completely as the damage to the skin is in the lower layers, but products containing the Vitamin A derivative, retinol, have been proved to be very effective in firming and improving the texture of the skin, thus disguising the marks, and there are surgical techniques that are expensive but effective, such as cosmetic or laser surgery.

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