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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